The teachers strike in the South Butler School District appears to have accomplished very little. It has not settled the stalemate between the district and the teachers union. It has not produced any significant movement in the two parties' positions.

It has not even produced much illumination about the issues at the heart of the strike. Many comments heard at meetings or expressed in signs carried by striking teachers do not address relevant issues in any meaningful way.

The strike has hurt students, inconvenienced parents and produced some bad blood in the community, but it has not helped bring about a solution.

At the Nov. 12 public meeting held at Knoch High School, one supporter of the teachers' position argued that the current economic conditions are not the fault of the teachers and that they should not suffer because of it.

It's true that South Butler teachers are not responsible for the global economic crisis, but it's also not been caused by factory workers, store clerks, office staff, bank tellers or truck drivers. Yet many of these people have lost their jobs and are worried about the future.

These people also expect to see stagnant wages for awhile, coupled with increasing contributions to their health care coverage.

Teachers did not cause the current economic downturn, but that does not mean they should be immune from its effects, while expecting taxpayers in the district to deal with the consequences.

Another resident, and spouse of a teacher, said that outside economic factors should have no bearing on teacher contracts. But that's just not realistic. All contract negotiations reflect current economic conditions and expectations looking forward.

At one point in the meeting, another resident called on the negotiations to be open to the public. District solicitor Tom King, representing the board, said he would agree to including the public. Chrissy Cortazzo, chief negotiator for the teachers, said she would not allow it.

It's hard to see how public involvement would make negotiating a contract easier. It more likely would make an already difficult situation even more complicated. But public view of the negotiations is important, because the public does have a right to know what the two sides are demanding or offering.

The public has a right to know that the teachers' original demands included reducing health care contributions, from $10 per month to $3.33 per month for an individual, and from $15 per month down to $5 per month for family coverage.

In two moves since the original demands were made, teachers now are proposing to keep their existing health care contributions at the level of the previous contract — $5 a month for individuals and $20 a month for family coverage.

But most people working in other sectors of the economy know such contributions are low and unrealistic. Most people also see the burden of rising health care costs on employers — and understand that most employees are sharing more of the burden, not less.

It's also been important for the public to know that the teachers started out demanding pay increases of 5.9 percent a year for the life of a new contract. Though that demand has been trimmed slightly, the current porposal of 5.75 percent still is well above — probably double — what most district residents will see in their paychecks over the next five years.

If, as expected, the strike continues through today, state law requires the two sides go to nonbinding arbitration, which involves each side presenting a final, best offer. Then the arbitrator, along with a representative from each side, will select one proposal, presumably the most reasonable.

The strike has done nothing to bring about a contract settlement. In fact, negotiating tactics associated with the strike seem to have encouraged unreasonable demands in the hopes that a compromise would end up in the center. But when one side seems to be starting in left field, meeting in the middle is not a reasonable compromise.

The arrival of arbitration and final, best offers — with no meet-in-the-middle option — should produce a contract with reasonable provisions that both teachers and taxpayers can live with.

That will be a welcome change.