'Teacher strikes hold boards, parents hostage'

An excellent Letter to the Editor originally published in the Delaware County Daily Times about the unfair advantage teachers have in negotiating new contracts.

The teachers always have the threat to strike, while school boards have nothing even remotely comparable in their negotiating arsenals. That's why Pennsylvania continues to lead the nation in teacher strikes.

This unfair advantage leads to generous contracts for teachers and higher property taxes for school district residents. It's a vicious cycle.

Teacher strikes hold boards, parents hostage

To the Times:

I read your recent editorial regarding school funding and the recent Pennsylvania budget. I agree 100 percent with your concerns about the taxpayer bearing the brunt of the school costs via property taxes, but, unfortunately, state funding is only one piece of the puzzle.

Another important piece is the local school boards and how they manage various districts. I am of the opinion that whenever there is talk of funding, we tend to shift emphasis to the state. We forget about one of the other major contributors to bulk of a school board budget, our teachers and their unions.

We have now diverted attention away from this issue by the recently received property tax rebates and now the state budget. Yet, there are teacher contracts coming up for consideration. We have addressed one of the issues, state funding, and now it is time to turn our attention to the next phase, the grossly over funded package our teachers receive.

If we just take the additional funding that was just provided by the state and turn it over to the teachers via cost of living, salary and retirement package adjustments, we have achieved nothing. The school districts now need to get the teachers on board and negotiate packages that are more reflective of industry jobs.

Let's have an increase in teacher and employee contributions to the retirement system. In private industry and other government jobs, employees routinely contribute up to 30 percent towards their health benefit packages, up to 7-10 percent towards their retirement packages and salaries are no where near as lucrative as the teachers and employees.

Remember, when you see a teacher salary, it is only reflective of nine months of work and not the full year. It is time to bring them back to reality and keep them on par with other professions.

One of the big threats school boards might hear and use when this subject comes up is the threat of a teacher strike. There is currently legislation, the "Strike-Free Education Act" (HB 1369), which has been introduced by state representative, Todd Rock. To date, I believe only one school district, in Bucks County, has passed a resolution supporting this legislation.

I would urge all school boards to pass a similar resolution and for all citizens to become educated in what is going on with the teacher unions. If you think they are interested in educating children, you may be sorely surprised; they are just another PAC looking out for their union dues and they use the threat of strikes to hold school boards and parents hostage.
There are currently about 122 school districts at risk for a strike over contracts.

Please visit www.stopteacherstrikes.org Web site for additional information. Let's see what the school boards' reaction to the additional funding will be when time comes to negotiate.

JOHN T. BARTHOLOMEO
Philadelphia District-Corps of Engineers