More than half of the district's 4,725 teachers went on strike. Early child care centers were closed, but other school remained open. Some students joined their teachers in the picket line; others went to school as normal.

The teachers union, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said that the deal included a base pay increase of from 7 to 11 to percent for the next school year–courtesy of a 20-step pay increase schedule–and, on top of that, a cost-of-living increase this year and the next. Teachers also got another of the things they wanted: a pay scaled based on experience and education, with professional development courses being considered, not just degrees. Teachers agreed to keep the incentive pay scheme that the district wanted, one that prioritizes high-poverty schools, roles at which are traditionally harder to fill.

The existing contract covering the teachers expired on January 18. Negotiations between the Denver Public Schools District and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association had carried on for 15 months without an agreement. The union, which represents most of the district's 5,600 teachers, is seeking a total package of $28.5 million; the district was seeking a total package of $23.3 million. The two sides also had competing versions of how to apportion whatever figure is eventually agreed on: teachers were seeking more chances to get a pay increase, whereas the district wants to put teachers in high-poverty schools as a way of getting a bonus, as part of a pay-for-performance program on which both sides once agreed, a system that was instituted in 2006 and held up as a national model. Teachers said that the bonuses varied too much from year to year and that the district has not made transparent how it measures performance.

The district said that it would find some of the money to fund the teachers' pay increases by cutting staff in the district's central office.

Although negotiators for both the district and the union have agreed, the school board and a majority of union members must still approve the deal.

The last strike in the Denver school district was 25 years ago. Teachers across Colorado walked out in large numbers for a time in 2018, but that was not a general strike. The Denver strike followed a strike in Los Angeles in January and several in 2018, in a handful of states:

• Teachers in Arizona won some concessions after a six-day walkout.
• Kentucky lawmakers overrode the governor's veto of spending bills providing more funds for teachers.
• Teachers in Oklahoma won some concessions but ended a nine-day strike without gaining more.