LYNDEN, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Teachers in Lynden could hit the picket lines later this month.

Cascadia Daily News reports the Lynden Education Association voted on Tuesday to authorize a strike starting on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The union represents about 226 teachers and certificated specialists in the Lynden School District.

The district said in a message to the community that, while they deeply value their educators, the school board has a responsibility to be “fiscally conservative” to preserve the long-term stability of Lynden’s public schools. They say declining enrollment, rising insurance and a lack of special education funding from the state has forced it to operate at a deficit for the past two budget cycles.

It comes after three attempts to pass a bond to fund a new Lynden High School among other upgrades failed before a levy failed in April that would have only addressed those various upgrades across the district’s existing schools.

The district is proposing gradual salary increases over the next three years that exceed the state’s annual inflation adjustments by between 0.4% and 1%.

According to the district, the average salary of teachers within the union was $114,711 in the 2025-26 school year.

Superintendent David Vanderyacht told My Bellingham Now on Oct. 15 that the two sides plan to return to the bargaining table early the following week.