Last year, West Virginia teachers abandoned students to flood the state Capitol and demand a raise and cheaper health insurance. The collective fit devolved into a wildcat strike and teachers ultimately got what they wanted – a 5 percent raise.

The tactic proved so successful teachers are back at it exactly a year later, this time to unravel plans for school choice options for families seeking an alternative to the public education system, National Public Radio reports.

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On Tuesday, all of the state’s 55 public school systems canceled classes after West Virginia’s teachers unions called a statewide strike to protest against school choice legislation currently working its way through the Virginia General Assembly.

Despite pay raises and increased funding for public schools in the legislation, the West Virginia branches of the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association are holding education hostage to protect the union monopoly on education.

Lawmakers have dramatically changed the funding bill as it’s moved between the state Senate, which is pushing for big changes, and the House of Delegates, which is apparently less enthused about school choice. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans.

The most recent version of the legislation in the Senate would allow up to seven charter schools in the state, as well as education savings accounts that essentially work as a voucher to allow students to attend private or online schools, or to use the money toward homeschool supplies or tutoring. The recently amended version moved in the Senate on Monday caps the number of students who can participate in the education savings accounts at 1,000, the West Virginia Gazette Mail reports.

Fred Albert, president of the American Federation of Teachers’ West Virginia chapter, claims teachers and other public education employees were “left with no other choice” than to walk out on students Tuesday.

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“They have made this bill so ugly in the Senate, and we’ve been told they have support in the House,” Albert told the Gazette Mail. “We feel that we have no other measure but to send the message that we’re following this hour by hour.”

Republicans described the decision to ditch students as “an embarrassment.”

“After years of ruining our state’s public education system, the teacher union bosses have finally lost their grip on the Legislature and seemingly have lost their grip on reality,” state Sen. Mitchel Carmichael wrote in a statement ahead of the strike. “Locking our students out of schools because teachers union bosses have lost is an embarrassment for our state.”

Carmichael’s colleague in the state Senate, Craig Blair, told the AP the pending legislation includes $66 million for teachers and school service workers.

“Change is never easy in West Virginia,” he said. “This is the right thing to do. At this moment in time, this is exactly the right thing to do to get a better education outcome for our students.”

The 2018 West Virginia strike started less than a year ago, on Feb. 22, and lasted 9 days, the first of what turned into a cascade of teachers strikes across the country that continues today. After the 2018 strike, teachers walked out on students in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, North Carolina, Los Angeles, and most recently Denver earlier this month.

Oakland teachers appear to be next on deck, with a threat to take to the streets instead of their classrooms on Thursday, Fortune reports.

The West Virginia Senate approved the education reform proposal and sent it to the House of Delegates, where Delegates voted to table the bill indefinitely, according to WTAP.

American Federation of Teachers President Rhonda Weingarten was among the throngs of teachers, socialists and communists celebrating another apparent victory against taxpayers.

It’s unclear how the change will impact the strike or efforts to bring school choice to West Virginia families who desperately need it.