


The strikes take place despite the state's ranking in the top 20% nationwide for teacher salaries in 2006-2007 -- the most recent data available -- with an average of $54,970. Those paychecks go even further when adjusted for the state's cost of living compared to top-spending school districts in places like California.

Pennsylvania taxpayers aren't pleased. Last year, a bill to prohibit teacher strikes was introduced in the state legislature by Todd Rock and 28 co-sponsors, only to be sidelined thanks to union opposition. According to a group called Stop Teacher Strikes, 75% of state legislators between 2004 and 2006 received teacher union money. The office of Governor Ed Rendell, who received more than $500,000 in teachers union political action committee cash for his 2006 re-election bid, called the strike ban a "radical response" to the problem.

That "radical" revision is actually similar to the rule in 37 states that have passed laws banning teacher strikes. Under the text of the strike bill, due to be reintroduced in January, teachers would have to give up two days of pay for each day they are out on strike. Under current law, Pennsylvania teachers see no adverse consequences from a walkout. In New York by contrast, the Taylor law punishes unions that walk off the job with fines and other penalties. According to the Allegheny Institute, similar strike laws have been upheld in the courts and have eliminated walkouts in states like Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Stop Teacher Strikes identifies 110 school districts in Pennsylvania that are currently under immediate risk of strike -- and more than 100 more whose contracts will expire by next summer. And while the number of strikes in Pennsylvania fell in 2007-2008, the time kids were furloughed during each strike rose to an average of almost 13 days. That's a sizeable chunk of the school year.

For too many teachers, the motto seems to be: When in doubt, walk out. The burden of enduring a strike then falls on families in which both parents need to work. The disruption is used as negotiating leverage by the unions, which know that parents will besiege school districts with calls begging them to settle. This amounts to a form of legal extortion. If Pennsylvania's teachers want to educate kids about justice and equity, they can start by ending a strategy that uses students as pawns to extract more taxpayer dollars.


Please add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.