By Bharati Krishna
Students living in California had about one week where there was a teacher’s strike and they weren’t required to go to school. Some districts didn’t even have school. There were so many strikes happening throughout the state, but why were they happening? Read on to find more.
Teachers were protesting for paid health insurance, smaller class sizes, higher wages and benefits. The superintendent of DUSD or Dublin Unified School District, made a 3 million dollar budget mistake, but instead of fixing it, decided to lay off some teachers. This was not the only reason for the strike, but it was a major one. The reasons can vary for every district, but they are all pretty similar.
In the week of March 9 to 13, 2026, teachers in Dublin, California were picketing outside the schools. For every student that crossed the picket line, the strike for a little bit longer. One of the things they were saying was “We need power, we need books, we need money the district took!” About a sixth of the entire school came, with the fifth grade doing work in the MPR, and the other grades in various other classrooms. Some teachers left little notes on the whiteboard to the class that was in his or her classroom.
In the Fremont Unified School District, the schools had to increase their last day of school to make up for missed days during the strike because school was closed. In the DUSD, however, because school was actually open, the last day of school stays the same. The same thing might have happened to other school districts as well. Students are now back in school though.
Thankfully, the district was able to come to an agreement, and everything is back to normal in most California Classrooms