The 2018 teachers' strike wave began on February 22, 2018, with a call from the West Virginia branches of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association for teachers across West Virginia to strike. The strike—which ended when teachers returned to their classrooms on March 7—inspired similar, statewide strikes in Oklahoma and Arizona. It also smaller-scale protests by school staff in Kentucky, North Carolina, Colorado, and elsewhere.
In Colorado two Republican party state representatives, Paul Lundeen and Bob Gardner, preemptively introduced a bill which would allow for court injunctions blocking the strike, allow school districts to fire the striking teachers, and impose court fines and six month jail sentences on strikers.[1]