Teacher Strike Over!

Well the teacher’s strike in the South Butler School District is over! Students are back to school. Congratulations everyone!

Oh wait. It is over because state law says it has to be over. The students need to get 180 days of school before mid June. If the teachers continued to strike, that would push the 180 days past mid-June which is not allowed. So the strike is over by default.

Here is my unsolicited advice to the administrators at the South Butler School District:
Don’t worry about negotiations until after mid-June! Let the teacher’s focus now on educating the students. Then, after the school year is over get them back in to negotiating mode.

No need to worry about a mass exodus or revolt either. Teachers rarely leave their jobs, except for retirement. Plus there are many, many people with education degrees that can’t find a teaching job in the state.

This is part of the union problem. It breaks the law of supply and demand! There is a large supply of teachers in Pennsylvania, therefore you would think that would drive the price down, but because of PSEA (the teachers union) they drive the cost higher, breaking the laws of simple economics!

Paying teachers an unreasonably large salary increases costs for the district. This, of course, raises property taxes for the homeowners. This is why the formula for funding school districts needs to be changed and property taxes eliminated. Teachers should only be allowed to strike after school, on weekends, and during the summer. Their strikes should not effect the student’s education.


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