Thousands of NSW teachers are striking for 24 hours in a bid to increase their pay and reduce their workload.
Public schools remain open on Wednesday but parents were urged to keep children at home as there will be minimal supervision.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell says the disruption to students and parents caused by the strike is "frustrating and disappointing".
She had asked the union to cancel the industrial action after Premier Dominic Perrottet indicated he would lift the 2.5 per cent wage cap increase for public sector workers in the 21 June budget.
"We are actively looking at this as part of the budget and not just for teachers, but all our frontline staff and we made that clear," Ms Mitchell told the Nine Network on Wednesday.
"We understand cost of living and household budgets.
"We want to get the right result for our frontline staff.
"We're committed to doing that as part of the budget process," Ms Mitchell said.
Labor education spokeswoman Prue Car accused the government of being out of touch with workers after revealing it had created a new salary band for the chiefs of staff of some ministers, effectively giving them a 10 per cent pay rise, with the top salary increasing from $320,000 to $354,201.
Ms Mitchell said that figure is an upper limit.
"My understanding is that those bands are effectively like a limit on what can be paid to staff ... and there aren't any ministerial staff who are being paid at the top of that top band," she told Sydney radio 2GB.
Teachers will rally outside NSW Parliament House on Wednesday, seeking provision for two hours of extra planning time and a pay rise of between five and 7.5 per cent.
NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos says the main reasons teachers do not want to stay in the profession are unsustainable workloads and uncompetitive salaries.
Public sector pay increases have been capped at 2.5 per cent per annum for more than a decade.
Mr Gavrielatos refused to call off the strike, saying the promise to address wages in the budget was not a guarantee and teachers had been patient with the government in attempts to negotiate since February last year.
Ms Mitchell on Tuesday directed her department not to push ahead with a 2.04 per cent annual pay rise that was due to go before the Industrial Relations Commission next week.
Public sector workforce wage rises amount to billions of dollars and the government has competing priorities that need to be balanced, Ms Mitchell told 2GB on Wednesday.
"These are major decisions that should actually be made as part of a proper budget process, not in response to union demands," she said.
McKell Institute CEO Michael Buckland said the offered wage increase would deliver a significant pay cut in real terms, with the median teacher losing more than $2000 a year.
"It is reasonable to conclude that such a fall in wages, especially to other professions, would make addressing teacher shortages far more difficult," he said.
