The Florida statewide teachers' strike of 1968 was a strike action in the US state of Florida in February and March 1968 by teachers and other education workers belonging to the Florida Education Association (FEA). The cause of the strike was under-funding of the state's educational system at a time when attendance was rising sharply, combined with low pay and benefits for teachers. The strike lasted from a few days in some school districts to three months in others. Although a special session of the Florida Legislature approved higher taxes to pay for more school funding, FEA members felt the funding hikes were not enough and voted to continue striking. No additional funding was forthcoming, however, and most local affiliates of the FEA settled their contracts and went back to work by the end of March. The 1968 strike is considered the first statewide teacher' strike in United States history, although that claim is also made by the Utah Education Association for 1963. Causes of the strike The primary causes of the strike were an increase in activism among Florida's teachers, leading to the transformation of the FEA into a labor union, and state underfunding of the Florida education system. According to a contemporary article in Time: The root of the trouble goes back to [Governor] Kirk's 1966 election campaign, in which he promised to produce something of a political miracle: to hold state taxes steady and at the same time make Florida "first in the nation in education." State educators dismissed the incompatible promises as idle oratory—only to discover that Kirk was not kidding—at least about the tax lid. He vetoed $130 million worth of special appropriations for the schools voted by the 1967 legislature. The teachers had some reason to complain that this was the wrong time to pull tight the purse strings. The average teacher salary in Florida is $6,660, which is $660 below the national norm. And while Florida is growing rapidly in population and wealth, it is actually slipping in the share of state revenue devoted to education. It ranks tenth among the states in per-capita income, but at $523 per pupil, ranks 37th in what it spends on the schools. Ten years ago the state contributed 59% of the cost of the schools; last year this had shrunk to 42%—and many counties have been hard pressed to make up the difference. Rise of the