Imagine coming to work day after day, year after year, for years on end, and knowing — not feeling; knowing — you’re in a rut.

Not the kind of rut most people experience in their professional lives — vaguely unsatisfied or adrift in their job or career — but a rut that you personally can’t do anything to break free from.

That’s what teachers and elected officials at South Butler School District faced for nearly four years, as contract negotiations between the teachers union and the district stagnated and then slowly began to publicly come apart at the seams.

By this time last year observers could reasonably wonder whether the relationship had sustained so much damage that future contract negotiations would be negatively impacted.

Last week this terrible state-of-affairs, this rut, came to an end with both sides approving a new contract proposed by a three-person arbitration panel.

The deal, which includes yearly raises for teachers, as well as increased health care costs and decreases in health coverage for retirees and their families, isn’t perfect.

But it’s better than no contract at all, which is precisely what union president Ian Babb said last week, on the day teachers voted to approve the deal.

To his credit, Babb also said that the teachers want to move forward and build a better relationship with district administrators and the community. That will be vital work in the coming months and years. Both sides suffered during this process, and it will take effort from everyone to repair the damage that has been done and forge a new cooperative and collaborative relationship.

But we would be remiss if we failed to point out that nothing has really changed — for South Butler or any other Pennsylvania school district embroiled in contract negotiations.

And yet again, the culprit — the real problem — is the state. It’s shameful reliance on local property taxes and stagnating state and federal funding streams, even as the public pension crisis continues to put economic pressure on districts, isn’t the only issue. But it is perhaps the best example of how Pennsylvania continues to fail public education at the most basic level.

Yes, we are thrilled that teachers, administrators and school board members seem ready to put the last four years behind them and concentrate on what should always be everyone’s top priority: students’ education.

No, we’re not convinced that we won’t be right back here in the future, unless something changes. And unfortunately, that’s a rut the state has yet to break free from.