Bainbridge teachers are talking about walking off the job.

The teachers’ union will take a vote April 27 to decide if island educators will participate in a statewide one-day strike sometime next week.

If the union approves the walkout, classes will be canceled Thursday, April 30.

Officials said the strike is still tentative.

“I have no authority yet to call a strike yet until a vote is taken,” said David Layton, a language arts/American studies teacher at Bainbridge High and the president of the Bainbridge Island Education Association. The association is the union that represents teachers in the Bainbridge school district.

The statewide walkout will last just one day as a protest to the Legislature’s inadequate funding of public schools.

Bainbridge teachers are planning ways to minimize the impact on parents by letting them know ahead of time of the exact walkout date.

Originally, the association planned a potential walkout for May 1.

The Ordway Carnival fundraiser is the same day, however, and to avoid interfering with the event, teachers agreed to move the date to April 30 instead.

“We don’t want to undermine the Ordway Carnival,” Layton said.

He also said that fundraisers like the carnival — one of the elementary’s biggest fundraisers — wouldn’t need to be organized if the Legislature would simply fund education properly.

Layton said members are also making contact with the Bainbridge Public Library and the Boys & Girls Club to help alleviate some of the stress on parents looking to find a place to put their kids on the day of the potential walkout.

“We want families to know and start making plans,” Layton noted.

He also stated that he’s received emails from families that support “the fight” against the legislature.

When school district officials heard of a possible walkout, a listserv notice was sent out to give families advanced notice to plan ahead. District officials treated it as a “possibility” despite wide-spread news reports that educators across the state voted to protest, and even with news of several local meetings regarding a walkout.

“We want to notify all Bainbridge Island School District families of the possibility of a districtwide school closure Thursday, April 30,” the district warned on its website.

The statement continued: “Similar to an unplanned snow day, if there is a school closure, the district will need to schedule a make-up day to comply with state laws regarding the number of required school days. In the past, make-up days have typically been added to the end of the school year. If there is a closure, families will receive prompt notification of any decision related to the district calendar.”

District officials refused to discuss if teachers would receive disciplinary action if a walkout does occur.

“It is not appropriate to talk about disciplinary action; at this point there hasn’t been a vote,” Galen Crawford, district spokeswoman said late Wednesday.

Teacher unions across the state have been planning for the one-day strike, and educators’ frustrations with Olympia center on the Legislature’s inability to comply with a Washington Supreme Court decision from January 2012 that directed the Legislature to funnel more money into basic education.

In its decision in McCleary v. State of Washington, the high court said the state had failed in its paramount duty to fully fund staff salaries and benefits and transportation. And late last year, the Washington Supreme Court held the Legislature in contempt of court for failing to come up with an acceptable plan for funding basic education.

Layton also noted that teachers are planning to participate in a rally Saturday at the state capital to protest the Legislature’s lack of support for public education.

The Bainbridge union hopes to fill between two to five buses to send to the rally in Olympia. The costs for the buses will be covered by the association, he said.

“We’re sending as many, many people as we can,” Layton said.

Layton expects about half of the 270 teachers in the union to make the trip to Olympia. Armed with signs and bus loads of teachers, he and others hope to bring the message to state lawmakers that the lack of support for public education is unacceptable.

“They’re underfunding almost $3,000 per pupil,” Layton said.

According to Layton, the last largest teacher strike was back in 1991 when thousands of teachers took to the capital. One year, Bainbridge Island School District Superintendent Kenneth Crawford even rode in the front seat of a bus with teachers heading to Olympia.

“This is kind of a Bainbridge tradition,” Layton said.

While frustrated as an educator by the broken promises, Layton acknowledged the role of the Legislature is a tough one.

“I am in such awe of anybody who would want that job. You have to understand K-12 funding is almost 50 percent of the state budget,” he said. “They have mission impossible. As soon as we leave their office, in come the firefighters. Then come in the transportation department. They never once get a stupid request.”

If the Legislature is found in contempt again, school may not open in September, Layton said.

“We do not want to end up in a strike, but it’s a numbers game and we’re going to back the Supreme Court.”