Edwardsville Teachers Rally for Better Pay, Less District Spending

EDWARDSVILLE - Teachers and union members for Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 rallied outside of Liberty Middle School ahead of May’s regular Board of Education meeting.

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, a few dozen District #7 employees donned red and held a rally in the hour before the meeting. Teachers spoke about the need for increased pay and less district spending on “luxury items.”

“We are just standing out here to show that we support each other and hoping the public supports us as well,” said Karla Brinkman. “We are rallying because our negotiations are coming up. We’ve had a lot of teachers let go that shouldn’t have been let go. There’s been a lot of spending by the district on superficial things, luxury items like a new gym floor, a new track for the track team, new office buildings over in Edwardsville rather than just using the office buildings like the Hadley House that the district has always used, just a lot of spending on things other than teachers.”

Teachers from pre-k all the way to the high school were in attendance on Tuesday night. The teachers have held a rally for the last two regular Board of Education meetings following the Board’s March vote to dismiss 16 teachers.

The union is currently in negotiation with the district for next school year. Brinkman pointed out that with rising inflation costs, the teachers would like to see a raise.

Nikki Starbuck added that the administration often says they “value” the teachers, and she believes one way to express this appreciation is through adequate pay.

“If you truly value us, one way to show that is pay us,” Starbuck said. “Make your proposal match the value that you have for us.”

Teachers continued to rally until the regular meeting started at 7 p.m.

“We are in solidarity with each other,” Brinkman added. “We are especially in support of all the teachers and positions that have been let go unfairly. We want to show that those teachers should not have been let go. What should be let go, we believe, is the luxury spending, things we don't need for the purpose of education. We feel like the number one purpose in a school district should be the kids, the education of the kids, but we feel like they're putting more emphasis on things rather than what's best for the education of the students, what's best for the teachers, what's most important.”

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