Even though the threatened teachers strike at the Slippery Rock School District passed with a last-minute settlement early this week, there is a growing concern over teacher strikes in Pennsylvania. And, reflecting that concern, state lawmakers are considering several pieces of legislation that would ban teacher strikes in the commonwealth, which is one of only nine states to allow such strikes.

Regardless of what one feels about teacher salaries and property taxes, it is worth considering the impact of Pennsylvania being out of step with the majority of states, where teacher strikes are not permitted. There is no evidence that the no-strike states suffer from substandard public education. But, it is possible that Pennsylvania taxpayers suffer in an environment that permits teacher strikes.

Last year, there were 13 teacher strikes in Pennsylvania, but only seven strikes across the rest of the United States. In 2004, Pennsylvania experienced 12 teacher strikes while the rest of the country saw just eight strikes.

State Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna, is the sponsor of one of three different bills that would prohibit teacher strikes in the state.

Mellow makes a valid point when he notes that at a time when teacher salaries were much lower, there might have been justification for strikes. But times have changed.

Teachers now have salaries, benefits and perks well above the average worker in the state. With average teacher salaries in Pennsylvania now over $50,000 (coupled with generous benefits), public support for steady increases that exceed wage increases for workers in the private sector is in decline.

This decline in support also is true for other government workers whose long-term contracts include wage increases well above most of those in the private sector.

Mellow echoes most taxpayers' sentiments when he says, "Enough is enough."

Mellow's bill would force school districts and teacher unions unable to reach a settlement into binding arbitration. This provision, which also is in a bill sponsored by Rep. David Steil, R-Bucks, was modeled after Connecticut's law.

An alternative approach is offered in a bill sponsored by Rep. Will Gabig, R-Carlisle, which would ban teacher strikes but force negotiations into public view rather than mandate binding arbitration.

And if no settlement is reached after a year of negotiating with public knowledge of all contract offers and cost details, the school board would be allowed to implement its final offer. This approach is modeled after Michigan's law.

Most observers see a flaw in the approach offered by Mellow and Steil, because settlements would be imposed by non-elected officials through binding arbitration. This approach is favored, however, by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.

Gabig's approach has the advantage of allowing the public to see exactly what is being offered — and what is being rejected. Seeing all the details of a contract offer and also recognizing the property tax implications is appropriate in contract disputes for public employees. It is the taxpayers, after all, who must foot the bills.

The right to strike, which Pennsylvania teachers gained in 1970, does appear to give teachers unions an unfair advantage in labor negotiations. Strikes are a major inconvenience to parents, who often pressure school boards to settle — at almost any cost — rather than endure the challenges imposed by a school stoppage.

Many Pennsylvania taxpayers might be under the mistaken impression that teacher strikes are just a fact of life. Looking around the United States, it is clear that they are not. And education systems in most other states, operating under some variation of a strike-ban, seem to provide educations to their students that are at least equal to what is provided in Pennsylvania.

Therefore, the right to strike is not essential to providing a quality education. Strikes at one time might have been necessary to elevate teacher salaries to a respectable level, one reflecting the importance of the job. But that was achieved decades ago, and continued increases that often exceed the increases for workers in the private sector no longer have broad public support.

It is time for Harrisburg to tackle this issue and join the majority of other states in banning teacher strikes.