With a recent wave of state-wide teachers’ strikes hitting the nation, the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative organization has released a study claiming that Pennsylvania leads the nation in education strikes, by far.
Researchers conducted the study using open records requests, and found that since 1999 there have been 131 teachers’ strikes affecting 300,000 students and causing 1,383 missed school days. And from 1968 to 2012, a separate study done by Mother Jones News determined that 88 percent of the nation’s teacher strikes occurred in Pennsylvania.
The searchable database from the Commonwealth Foundation shows three teachers’ strikes in Indiana County since 1999…a five-day strike at Homer Center, an 11-day strike at Marion Center, and a 19-day strike, also at Marion Center.
In testimony before the Senate Education Committee, Commonwealth Foundation vice president and chief operating officer Nathan Benefield said Pennsylvania is one of only twelve states that explicitly legalizes teacher strikes, and there is no penalty for striking. He said teachers’ unions have the power to discipline teachers who cross picket lines, including fining them and suing them. Benefield pointed out that in Pennsylvania, most public school teachers must join or pay a fee to a union as a condition of employment, and said he’s hoping a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Janus vs. AFSCME will change that.
