There will be no school in Oak Harbor Tuesday, Jan. 14 as teachers head to Olympia to join their brothers and sisters in a little muscle flexing as the Washington State Legislature convenes.

While the school board has not yet approved the absence, it will likely go along with the walkout as thousands of teachers from throughout the state are expected to join the march on Olympia.

With the state facing a $2 billion shortfall in budgeting for the next biennium, teachers want to make sure legislators don’t look to education cuts to balance the budget.

Peter Szalai, co-president of Oak Harbor Education Association, said the walkout was approved by local union members Tuesday evening. The representative council, representing 355 certificated professions, voted 27 to 3 to join the “day of action to protect and advance education funding.”

The move won’t result in one less day of school for students, however. A make-up day will be added, most likely May 27 which is presently set aside as a “snow day,” according to a news release from the teachers’ union.

Between now and Jan. 14, Oak Harbor teachers will be working to gain community backing for their effort, hoping to “build a broad coalition of education and community-based groups,” in support of the action, according to the news release.

Teachers know legislators will be looking at possible education cuts. Rep. Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor, has frequently pointed out in recent weeks that education, kindergarten through college, comprises 56 percent of the state budget. While not calling for cuts, he has noted the difficulty of balancing the budget without looking at education.

Beyond that, Sehlin said human services — helping the needy — make up another 33 percent of the state budget. If both education and human services are protected, all other functions of the state government could be eliminated and the budget still wouldn’t be balanced, he explains.

This isn’t news to Szalai and other educators, who are not calling for balancing the budget through draconian cuts. Rather, they would like to see revenue enhanced through additional taxes. “It’s time to look at an income tax,” he said this week. “Do we want to live in a third world state?”

Whatever happens, the teachers will be fighting for education dollars. Szalai said the public is on their side, as recent polls show “they want public education exempted from the chopping block,” and those polled “want to pay teachers substantially more.”

Specifically, Szalai said teachers in Olympia will be trying to protect two voter-approved initiatives. One, I-728, directed money to reducing class sizes, and the other, I-732, guaranteed school employees an annual cost of living increase.

“We want to be sure those are not monkeyed with,” he said.

Szali said the “day of action” vote was taken this week to give parents time to plan for the Jan. 14 day off. He hopes some parents and students will join the trip to Olympia. Teachers who aren’t going will likely stay in Oak Harbor and help provide daycare alternatives for families, he said.