Pennsylvania Teachers’ Unions Are Losing Their Cool --- And Their Power

Author’s note: For your viewing pleasure, a link to FOX 29’s fiery “non-debate” on school strikes follows this column. Is it any wonder why the PSEA won’t talk about the merits of strikes, and instead engages in personal, factually incorrect attacks (in Latin, no less!) on extraneous issues? P.S.: I am sending PSEA the bill for my blown-out eardrums.

To modify the legendary quote from Dean Wormer in Animal House: Arrogant, greedy and aloof is no way to go through life.

But that’s exactly how the teachers’ unions in Pennsylvania have behaved for decades.

With millions in forced union dues, they have constructed a statewide political empire, using their muscle to crush any and all opposition.

To their credit, they have been immensely successful in squeezing every last penny from broke municipalities and overtaxed residents. In good economies and bad, they demand and receive large raises and benefits, including, in many cases, free healthcare.

In Bucks County’s Neshaminy School District, for example, the unions have steadfastly refused to renegotiate their healthcare plan. Can you blame them? They don’t pay one cent toward their Rolls Royce plan, which costs $27,000 per teacher, per year. Meanwhile, those in the private sector are shelling out 30 or 40 percent of their healthcare costs, with many shouldering the entire burden. And when Neshaminy teachers retire, they are guaranteed healthcare until age 65. And as an added retirement “incentive”, they are handed almost $30,000 just to walk out the door.

Amazingly, Neshaminy isn’t the exception. Unfortunately, such excess is commonplace throughout the state.

To make the sin mortal, Pennsylvania leads the nation every year in school strikes. In fact, the Keystone State experiences more teacher strikes than all other states combined.

And that is the reason so many citizens are scratching their heads. Teachers are universally respected for the priceless role they play, but when they strike, especially in a recession where the private sector continues to hemorrhage jobs, it is seen as a slap in the face.

While Pennsylvania teachers are first in school strikes and top five in salaries and benefits, the same cannot be said of student achievement --- as evidenced by their 42nd –ranked SAT scores.

And you can’t just blame city schools for bringing the numbers down. In suburban Neshaminy, 33 percent of 11th graders aren’t proficient in reading, and 28% can’t perform basic math.

To the unions, money is the cure all. Pay more money (and better benefits) to the teachers while increasing funding for public education, and all the problems will be solved. But we’ve been doing that for decades, and education achievement hasn’t improved.

Given that the global economy is here to stay, our dismal academic performance becomes more dire every year. Our students are no longer competing against just those in San Francisco and Seattle, but Stockholm, Singapore and Sydney. Yet compared to our top 30 global counterparts, the U.S. is, at best, in the middle of the pack and more often, much lower.

The solution is to instill accountability to our schools and rein in the out-of-control unions. And with a new Governor and state legislature poised to tackle tough issues, the political will to enact meaningful changes is not just possible, but probable. Here are two immediate steps that would help bring vast improvement to Pennsylvania’s educational system:

1) Inject competition by enacting school choice. When parents have a choice in their children's education, schools that do well will attract more students and succeed, and those that continue with the status quo will lose students and fail. The free market system that has served us so well will have the same effect on our educational product. And for the first time in generations, our students will actually learn the skills necessary to succeed in life.

Governor-elect Tom Corbett made school choice a cornerstone of his campaign, and with solid Republican majorities in the House and Senate, look for that to take shape in some form this year.

2) Outlaw school strikes. No public sector union should have the right to strike, which is why our police and firemen are prohibited from doing so. It is beyond explanation that teachers, in whose hands we place our most valuable asset --- our children --- are not considered equally essential.

Strikes are disruptive to all parties. Parents experience incredible stress in their frantic search for child care, often risking job security by tending to their children, and students’ disciplined approach to schoolwork is shattered, with no possibility of a seamless transition after a long strike.

And who are we kidding? Sure, the law mandates a 180-day school year, but are students really learning anything sitting in a classroom over the Christmas break? Or in late June, days or weeks after exams have already been taken? In effect, students are held hostage so that teachers can justify their salaries and school districts don’t jeopardize their state subsidies.

But it is important to understand that teachers are also victimized by strikes. They become pariahs in their own communities, and respect for their profession take a hit. Let’s be crystal clear on one thing: many teachers often do not agree with the union leaders’ decisions. But when that leadership calls for a strike vote --- and refuses to use a secret ballot, as is almost always the case --- there is virtually no chance of opposition. The risk is simply too high, and the mob mentality rules the day.

At the minimum, there should be a law requiring secret ballot votes for school strikes, monitored by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor. That common sense, practical solution would be overwhelmingly supported by the public --- and the teachers.

If you outlaw strikes, though, basic fairness dictates that there should be a method to resolve an impasse. Perhaps the most viable alternative would be final best offer arbitration (FBO), the same system Major League Baseball uses with great success.

In regular arbitration, both sides throw out a number, with the arbiter often adding them together and dividing by two. That’s an inefficient system, because when one side makes a reasonable offer while the other side comes in with a pie-in-the-sky proposal, the result is lopsided in favor of the greedier party.

But with FBO, both sides innately understand the need to be reasonable in their proposals or risk getting blown completely out of the box. Cooler heads would prevail with FBO, and that’s most definitely in the taxpayers’ best interest.

Is FBO ideal? No, since you are placing an unelected arbiter in a position of power, but in the real world, it’s the best we have to stop the unaffordable contracts. It is a classic example of philosophical versus practical, and in this case, the practical side should prevail.

But there’s a huge irony here.

Because the union leadership has pushed the envelope for so long, the pendulum may be swinging back hard, to the point of potentially being unfair.

Outlawing school strikes --- as they are in 37 states --- can be enacted like any other legislation: pass both chambers and have the Governor sign the bill. That may well happen in the near future.

However, arbitration requires a constitutional amendment, a process that will take at least five years. So the unions are facing the distinct possibility of seeing the right to strike abolished, with no chance of arbitration as recourse. In effect, our teachers would be working as slaves to the school boards, and that is certainly NOT in anyone’s best interest, most of all our childrens’.

But right or wrong, they made their bed, and now they have to lie in it.

Aware that their backs were to the wall, the unions spent massively this campaign season on candidates sympathetic to their “plight.” Unfortunately for them, they suffered huge losses, and the head of the dragon is in danger of being decapitated.

From this point on, it’s a whole new ballgame.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has blazed a path to success in dealing with unions, and enjoys rising popularity every time he calls out their arrogance and greed. And his accomplishments have come with the Democrats controlling both legislative chambers.

In much the same mold, Tom Corbett’s vision is closely aligned with Christie’s, especially on education issues. With the GOP now in firm command of Harrisburg, they may yet provide Pennsylvanians with hope and change we can all believe in.

Taxpayers could only be so lucky.

FOX 29 Non-Debate On School Strikes: Freind Vs. PSEA’s Rob Broderick http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/heated-debate%3A--teachers-striking-in-pa

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."

Freind, whose column appears nationally in Newsmax, also serves as a guest commentator on Philadelphia-area talk radio shows, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances, most notably on FOX. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com.

Should we vote for endorsed candidates

As a libertarian / constitutionalists at heart, and the utter disdain for the socialist progressive values that the Democratic Party has endorsed, I have been forced to side with the Republican Party for over 30 years because this Commonwealth does not recognize the independent voter. Unfortunately I feel that the GOP has slammed its doors in the faces of its membership, who is calling for a change in the same old political game. This primary season hundreds of GOP members, Taxpayers groups and the like have written letters to the Chairman of the PA GOP, Mr. Gleason and have asked him to consider not going the days of old and endorsing a specific set of candidates for the primary. We asked that the GOP to give it back to the people of the party through the election process, and allow us to decide whom our candidate(s) would be in the November general election. The GOP has denied our request and has endorsed candidates that are nothing more than oil in the big political machine. So what are we to do?

The state of affairs that we are in, I believe is because We The People have allowed our elected officials to call the shots and run the game way too long. Through complacency and apathy we have reneged on our rights as Americans and have sold our sole to the devil by allowing political parties and the bosses that head them, to control our destiny. A time for change has come to the political establishment of PA. We the people should demand open primaries where no specific candidate is endorsed. We the people should demand that primaries are open to all Pennsylvanians of voting age and not just those affiliated with a political party. I call on all Pennsylvanians to take a stand and let our elected officials know we are not going to stand for the political chess playing any longer.

This upcoming primary election cycle in May will be very crucial for the constituents of Pennsylvania. The Republican Party has endorsed Tom Corbett for governor, a man with little or no knowledge of how legislative government works because he has never held a position in either the State House of Representatives or the Senate. Was this a good choice for the PA GOP to endorse this candidate? How will Tom handle one issue that I hold dear to my heart, school property tax reform, this one tax has devastating effects on senior citizens and those less fortunate, who are being evicted from their homes because of their inability to pay. Will Tom Corbett recognize that Property School Tax must be eliminated? Will Tom Corbett recognize that we have a right as Americans to own our homes once the mortgage is paid off? Tom is a former teacher and has close ties to PSEA but will he realize that this tax on our homes must be put to an end? Will Mr. Corbett look the other way because of special interest and ties to the GOP party bosses? Who knows, but for us Republicans, our fate has been sealed.

There is a bill sitting on the house floor waiting for sponsorship yet only 36 Representatives have signed up to co-sponsor it. The bill is named H.B. 1275 or SPTEA (school property tax elimination act). This one piece of legislation will remove the burden of school tax from our homes and shift it completely to the sales tax, where those that spend will pay the burden. Sales tax will be kept at the 6% level but will be expanded across ALL services and items of non-necessity. Even our current Governor (fast Eddy) Ed Rendell is now warming up to the idea of expanding the sales tax at a lesser rate, rather than the current 6%, but that will only hold us being short again and looking for other revenue streams to cover the insurmountable debt. Lets face it people this Commonwealth is INSOLVENT.

SPTEA written by Sam Rohrer (candidate for Governor) has championed this issue for years and it has fallen on deaf ears because of other politician's ties to the PSEA. Gambling revenues and $200.00 rebates will not take care of the doubling of our tax burden over the next 10 years because of the PSERS refunding and mounting educational costs that we the taxpayers are responsible for. When people loose their jobs and their homes, who will be gambling and where will the rebates be coming from? How much more in taxes will we pay just to keep the schools operational? PSERS is in addition to the cost to run the district, is exempt from a referendum on the ballot. The government of PA has protected those of special interest and has nailed the coffin shut on the taxpayer. Do you see the writing on the wall or are you blinded by the threat that our children will suffer the consequences if WE THE TAXPAYER do not keep pensions solvent? Wake up people! We have to stop wanting and understand that we cant afford to keep spending on programs that are not of basic necessity for our children to compete and succeed in the ever changing world in which we live.

The GOP better understand that it will lose many of us who have chosen to be associated with the new constitutional movement (not necessarily tea partiers) that is sweeping across America. The GOP better understand that We The People demand that we should be the ones running the show and the political parties should abide by our decisions.

This primary season could have been one that showed America that the status quo is not the way to go and instead PA GOP has decided to keep playing games with our reality. The GOP’s arrogance is nauseating and we must allow ourselves be heard loud and clear when it comes doing the party’s dirty work and voting for endorsed candidates come this May. Endorsing candidates closes the door on every American’s right to be heard. Political clout shrouds the enlightenment of the people and forces our hands to be played by those we empower. The time has come to speak up with our votes and be heard.

The GOP’s decision of turning its back on it’s membership and the threat of increasing extremely high school taxes, www.PATaxTalk.com is asking all GOP members to consider State Rep. Sam Rohrer for Governor, Russ Diamond for Lt. Governor, and Peg Luksik for U.S. Senator, because of their constitutional mindset and commitment to our state and federal constitutions. All candidates understand the threat that is posed to our constitutions because of governmental fiscal irresponsibility and the need of government to grow itself into something that is all too consuming, neither of which government was designed to do.

As an American, demand that your voice be heard and tell the party bosses that you are dissatisfied with their disregard to our request for an open primary. Vote for the candidate(s) that you believe in and support, because you did your homework and realize the consequences of your actions. Pulling a lever because of party affiliation or because a candidate has been endorsed is irresponsible and it would be better that you stay home come Election Day.