Thousands of Seattle teachers protest over wages, class sizes
Thousands of US teachers go on strike in Seattle, Washington to demand higher wages, smaller classes and more funding for public schools.
About 2,500 Seattle teachers took part in the strike on Tuesday, marking the largest one-day strike in a series of protests by educators in Washington state during the past week.
Dressed in red, 6,000 teachers, school support staff and community members marched through downtown Seattle, holding signs that read, "Good Schools Require Good Funding," and "On Strike Against Legislature."
More than 50,000 students in Seattle, which is the state's largest school district, were out of class on Tuesday.
Educators in nearly 60 school districts across the state have held or plan one-day walkouts, accusing state lawmakers in Olympia, Washington of failing to meet a state Supreme Court mandate to fully fund public schools.
Teachers are also unhappy about a proposal to increase salaries by 3 percent over two years, while the state has not raised teacher healthcare funding in five years, according to the Washington Education Association teachers union.
Protesters are hoping parents will call their lawmakers to tell them to find the money to pay for smaller classes as well.
Washington averages 23.7 students in elementary classrooms, more than the national average of 21.2, according to the US Department of Education.
Seattle was also the scene of protests by hundreds of environmental activists earlier this week to prevent Royal Dutch Shell's oil exploration plans in the Arctic Ocean this summer.
Shell aims to explore and drill in the Chukchi Sea in the US state of Alaska. It will use Seattle as a base to store its drilling equipment.
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