By Darwyyn Deyo
Pennsylvania Independent
HARRISBURG — A new report from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association names Pennsylvania as the national leader in public school teacher strikes for the 2009-10 academic year, with six strikes over 501 school districts.
Those strikes occurred in South Butler, where teachers picketed from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6; Saucon Valley, from Oct. 14-30; Lackawanna Career and Tech, Oct. 29 to Nov. 2; Penn Hills, Feb. 2-9; McGuffey, March 22-23; and North Penn, April 19-27.
In addition to those teacher strikes, 36 members of the support staff at the Columbia-Montour Vocational-Technical School in Espy, Columbia County, went on strike in March.
In comparison, Ohio, with 612 school districts, had no strikes last year.
State Rep. Paul Clymer, a Republican from Bucks County and minority chairman of the House Education Committee, said his priority is outlawing teacher strikes in Pennsylvania. The commonwealth is one of 13 states that legalized strikes by state employees, including public school teachers.
"Since my first campaign, I ran on the platform of opposing any strikes by any public employees, teachers included. The work and functions of government, and the many services they provide for, would make it very inconvenient and create a lot of problems when these services are disrupted. I opposed school strikes, and I have co-sponsored legislation to eliminate strikes," he said.
Two House bills and a House resolution would either ban teacher strikes in Pennsylvania or further restrict them. Under current law, once a teachers union decides to strike, the state Department of Education sets a date by which teachers must be back in the classroom with students. While this law ensures students receive 180 academic days a year, teachers still are paid for the time they are on strike because the days are counted as "vacation days," unless they occur during a workshop day.
House Bill 2092, introduced by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican from Butler County, would amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to explicitly prohibit certain teacher strikes and lockouts. The bill states: "The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the commonwealth and shall not provide for any lawful strike or lockout of employees of public education." The legislation has nine co-sponsors, including Clymer.
House Bill 1334, introduced by state Rep. Doug Reichley, a Republican from Berks County, would not ban all teacher strikes but would require more arbitration and fact-finding and includes a provision for the vote to strike be conducted with a secret ballot. The bill has 23 co-sponsors, including state Rep. Russell H. Fairchild, R-85 of Lewisburg.
Simon Campbell, of Stop Teacher Strikes, an educational and advocacy organization, said: "The strike law just allows the teachers unions to throw a tantrum because they have to go back and teach regardless. It's possible the teachers could lose a few workshop days, so it's just a tool to cause disruption and try to hurt the parents of the students, to pressure the school district to cave in to their demands."
Clymer emphasized the urgency of stopping state employee strikes because the government is the only agency that can conduct certain operations, on which the economy and private jobs depend.
"There are things that only can be done in the public sector. Teaching, issuing driver's licenses, approving contracts, approving licenses of all manner for professional people who need a license to conduct business. Those things are very important because it holds up the economy," he said.
He also argued that stopping teacher strikes in a tough economic year is essential because Pennsylvanians cannot continue to pay the real estate taxes of previous years.
"Taxpayers are really hard-pressed to pay any increase in real estate taxes, and we have to find different avenues to balance school budgets," Clymer said. "When the teacher contracts become too onerous financially, too much of a burden for the taxpayers, we have some serious problems. I'm sure the school boards do their best to come up with equity in the contract (but) everyone has to cut back, government included."
House Majority Education Chairman James Roebuck, a Democrat from Philadelphia, did not return calls for comment.
n Darwyyn Deyo is a reporter for Pennsylvania Independent. She can be reached at darwyyn@paindependent.com.
