HARRISBURG — Teachers at a Western Pennsylvania-based cyber charter school have voted to unionize, becoming the first such school to do so in the United States, according to a labor leader.

The faculty at Homestead-based PA Learners Online voted 42-14 Monday to have the Pennsylvania State Education Association represent 76 teachers, counselors and other workers at the school, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board said Wednesday.

"It is clear these public school employees desire the same voice in their working conditions as other school employees across the commonwealth," said James P. Testerman, president of the statewide teachers' union. He said it was the first time that a U.S. public cyber charter school faculty has voted to unionize.

Pennsylvania has about a dozen cyber schools among its roughly 125 charter schools, said Larry Jones, board president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools. Jones said two or three charter schools in Philadelphia are unionized, but they are not cyber schools.

"People go into the charter school world because it creates an additional ability to be flexible," Jones said. "I think some would say that the unions may tend to limit that flexibility. Oftentimes people view the union as more in line with the traditional public schooling."

The school, which serves Pennsylvania students in kindergarten through high school, is managed by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and is chartered by 10 school districts: Allegheny Valley, Baldwin Whitehall, Bethel Park, Chartiers Valley, Deer Lakes, Moon Area, Shaler Area, South Allegheny, West Allegheny and Woodland Hills.

Pat Sable, the intermediate unit's acting executive director, said management took no position on the organizational drive. The school's teachers operate out of an intermediate unit-owned building, and the unit provides contractual management services.

Sable said the unit will assist the school's board and help the school work out a labor contract.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, affiliated with the National Education Association, represents about 191,000 active and retired teachers and other school and health care workers.

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On the Net:

PA Learners Online: http://www.palearnersonline.com/A1/index.asp