WASHINGTON (7News) — "Over 5,000 D.C. public school teachers are now being set back financially after learning salary hikes they’ve been expecting are now being delayed. The retroactive pay increase was part of a new contract that was ratified in December." 

“Many of our teachers went through COVID, going back to classes in person, concerned about their health and their students," said Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, the Washington Teachers’ Union President. "To finally get a contract and find out that what they had been waiting for through the ups and downs of the economy is very disappointing.

”She added, “The average teacher is 32 years old, they have student loans, starting a family, hoping to get a home, so they depend on their money.”

Watch the Full Interview here.