Andover High School history teacher Matt Bach began his two-year term as president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association this week, putting a local educator who led the town's 2023 teachers' strike at the head of the state's largest education union.

Bach, who served as president of the Andover Education Association during the contentious 2023 walkout, now represents 117,000 public education professionals across 400 local associations statewide. He won the presidency in May at the MTA's Annual Meeting of Delegates, capturing 653 of 1,222 votes cast against John Sullivan of the Belmont Education Association, succeeding term-limited UMass Amherst professor Max Page.

The 2023 walkout against the Andover School Committee resulted in a contract that dramatically boosted wages for instructional assistants, secured paid family and parental leave for all Andover educators, and guaranteed recess time for elementary students. "We're going to continue the social justice work that MTA does and make sure that we have a society that values public education and students and families and all of the services that come out of that," Bach said.

Future contract talks between the Andover School Committee and the AEA will now play out with a former local union president running the very state organization that provides legal, bargaining and organizing support to the local bargaining unit — the same dynamic that applies in North Andover, where the MTA backs the local teachers' association too. Bach has drawn a direct line between his own experience and his statewide goals: "The public understood what we were fighting for and why it was so important to address the injustice of not paying educators a fair wage."

Since taking office, Bach has laid out an agenda that includes fully funded public schools, debt-free public colleges, protecting educator autonomy, and legalizing teacher strikes in Massachusetts. He's also spoken out against what he calls "boxed curriculum," heavy standardized testing, and what he described as "a serious encroachment by artificial intelligence and big tech" in public education.

Joining Bach is new MTA Vice President Deb Gesualdo, a Malden music educator who led her own district through a 2022 strike vote — both will serve through roughly July 2028. Neither the Andover School Committee nor Andover Public Schools administration has commented publicly on Bach's new role.

Despite the statewide platform, Bach has been clear about what still grounds him: he sees his union identity as "inextricably linked to preserving my identity as a classroom teacher" at Andover High, where he's taught American history and art history for years.