Legislators can end Pennsylvania's plague of teacher strikes if they avoid repeating their refusal to prescribe a readily available cure.
State Rep. Todd Rock, R-Franklin County, has reintroduced his Strike-Free Education Act, which would outlaw teacher strikes, hit violators in the wallet and provide a transparent process for resolving contracts by mutual agreement, not binding arbitration.
Mr. Rock's bill went nowhere during the 2007-08 legislative session. Were it law today, more than 20 school districts wouldn't be facing immediate strike threats and another 126 wouldn't be facing possible strikes by year's end.
As public employees, teachers -- just like police -- should not have the right to strike. Yet teachers do.
Striking teachers disrupt learning, school schedules and family plans, yet the political playing field tilts steeply in their favor because of teacher unions' clout, particularly among Democrats.
The Strike-Free Education Act would level the field for those victimized by teacher strikes. It also would remove the pall cast on Pennsylvania's image, home to 60 percent of all U.S. teacher strikes from 2000 to 2007.
