CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Teacher union representatives in 12 counties say they'll hold a one-day strike on Wednesday to pressure Gov. Joe Manchin into calling a special legislative session to address low pay.

In addition to Mineral and Hampshire counties, schools in Berkeley, Boone, Fayette, Jefferson, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Preston, Roane and Tyler counties are expected to be closed, according to an Associated Press telephone survey of local union representatives and news reports. Officials could not be reached in four counties: Hardy, Putnam, Upshur and Webster.

Mineral County Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth made the decision late Tuesday evening to close schools for safety reasons.

"When it became apparent that we would have pickets at every school, my first consideration was for the safety of the students," he said. "My second consideration was the safety of the personnel ... I have therefore ordered all personnel not to report today."

Teachers were split along grade levels in Pendleton County, with those at high schools and middle schools saying they would walk, and those at elementary schools staying put, said Becky Schlaegel, a former president of the county chapter of the West Virginia Education Association.

Lincoln County teachers initially voted to walk out but reversed that decision late Tuesday, said WVEA spokeswoman Kym Randolph.

West Virginia Education Association President Charles Delauder said the walkout is "important because it focuses everyone's attention on the need for quality educators in our classrooms."

Though most of the state's 55 counties will hold classes today, there was WVEA support statewide for the walkout. Many other county WVEA chapters put the walkout to a vote and won a simple majority, but not the two-thirds margin required to authorize a walkout.

That was not the case in Hampshire County, where more than two-thirds of teachers voted Friday to join the walkout, in part because the 3.5 percent pay raise approved by the Legislature will be a wash. Teachers there will lose $1,400 in annual pay, due to a failed excess levy last November.

"We're 55th of all 55 counties because we lost our levy," Gayle Allen, president of the Hampshire County WVEA, said.

Prior to the loss of the levy, the pay scale for Hampshire County teachers was tied with the minimum salary of 33 other counties, Allen said. "We asked the Legislature very politely to ... give us the $1,400," which was in addition to the 6 percent for which the state's teachers were asking.

Because e-mails and letters to legislators, as well as lobbying and informational pickets on Instructional Suport and Enhancement Days has fallen "on deaf ears," Allen said teachers who ordinarily wouldn't take part in the walkout are doing so today.

"To go against your principles means the issue has to be that much more important," she said.

At issue - aside from having more money in a paycheck - is the quality of education. Allen, a veteran teacher of 23 years and a parent of three schoolchildren, is concerned that West Virginia students are not getting a quality education that will be good enough to take them to the college level.

There is a question of whether that may already be a problem, since some counties have as many as 100 teachers who aren't qualified, working within the state's school system, Allen said.

Hampshire County has open spots in English, chemistry, math and special education, she added. "We're putting uncertified substitutes in there."

Those open positions mean that teachers are going elsewhere to teach and Allen said she fears that with Allegany County and Loudoun County, Va. - both counties where the pay is higher - just an hour away, teachers will not even consider applying for positions in Hampshire County. "We have so much trouble retaining and recruiting highly qualified teachers as it is. We have a real hard time getting teachers to even apply here."

Calling today's walkout "symbolic," Allen said the teachers hope to send a message to legislators in Charleston.

"We hope they see this as a demonstration of what it will look like when we can't get teachers ... just how hard it will be if they didn't have enough qualified teachers," Allen said.

The 3.5 percent pay raise approved by the Legislature during its regular session has not been enough to appease many teachers. The average West Virginia teacher earned $41,388 last year and has about 18 years of experience, state officials said.

"While it's unfortunate that we still have counties that feel the need to go through with the walkout, we know that we've made an impact on the state by continuing to provide them with information about the raise and asking them to make informed decisions," said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for the governor's office.

Teachers staged an 11-day strike in 1990 in a successful bid to change their salary ranking from 49th in the nation. That year, teachers received a $5,000 increase over three years. In 1980, nearly 7,000 teachers walked out for one day and rallied in rain at Laidley Field to protest a $950 raise.

West Virginia teachers' salaries currently rank 47th in the nation, according to the WVEA's annual rankings.

It's uncertain how many of the WVEA's 17,000 members will participate in Wednesday's walkout, Delauder told The Associated Press.

WVEA members across the state, including those who are not participating in the walkout, plan to wear red clothing to support the job action.

But not everyone supports the walkout.

"It's hard to think that you're going to accomplish something after the legislative session is over," said Jackee Long, president of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association.

The union, which represents bus drivers, cooks and other school service employees, is directing its members to report to work unless crossing a picket line appears dangerous, Long said.

"We got a good raise, we would have liked to have gotten more, but a 3.5 percent raise in pay - we'll take what we got this year and try harder next year," Long said.

Staff writers Daleen Berry and Liz Beavers contributed to this report.