The union representing Alberta teachers says members have voted 95 per cent in favour of strike action and they could hit the picket lines in the next four months.

Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling says teachers are sending a message that they are united and will no longer prop up an underfunded public education system.

Finance Minister Nate Horner says a mediator’s recommendation rejected by teachers included the same 12 per cent pay increase over four years that has already been accepted by other unions.

Horner says the recommendation also included more than $400 million in classroom improvements.

Schilling says in order to bring Alberta in line with Canadian funding averages per student, the education budget needed to see a 13.5 per cent increase.

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Nearly 39,000 Alberta teachers voted on the latest deal, and both sides are scheduled to go back to the bargaining table this month.