It hasn’t been a local issue, but the threat of teachers’ strikes has been a looming one this fall. Unless you’ve managed to avoid all forms of media, you can’t live in this area and not know that Seattle teachers were on strike for a few days this school year. You also can’t miss the connection to the state legislature’s funding problems, called on by school districts and the supreme court to fully fund basic education, but never quite managing it.

That’s where it does become a local issue. Valley teachers very nearly did leave their classrooms vacant two years ago, when contract negotiations seemed to stall — class sizes and teacher pay were the big sticking points, both of which rely on state funding. Snoqualmie Valley teachers actually did vote to strike in 2013, but got a new contract approved just in time for the start of the school year.

And, to paraphrase Monty Python, there was some rejoicing, but not much, because two other groups of school employees, the secretaries and administrative staff and the “classified” employees in supporting departments like janitorial, transportation and food services, did start that school year working under the terms of an expired contract. They worked most of the 2013-14 year without a contract, too.

From where I sit, those other two groups are just as important as the teachers. Maybe I’ve just earned some hate mail for saying it, but I believe it.

The school secretaries, in this district at least, are the familiar faces that kids can expect to see, always. Teachers change every year, classmates form new friendships and pursue different interests, but the school secretary that called Mom when a child was sick, or the bus driver who dresses up for Halloween to make them laugh, that person is a true human connection for children growing up in the digital age.

So is the janitor who they swap jokes with every day, and the lunch lady, in charge of their most basic physical needs.

These are also the people, although it’s easier to consider them roles, who can’t really threaten to strike. School will go on whether they are driving, organizing, cooking or cleaning for the kids or not.

Teachers have called on the legislature to fully fund education many times. The answer to that call should include all aspects of education, not just the classroom.