An Associated Press article of March 3 began, "U.S. teachers are more interested in school reform and student achievement than their paychecks, according to a massive new survey."

The Karns City Education Association's announcement Monday that it has given the district notice of a work stoppage beginning Sept. 1, due to an ongoing contract stalemate, gives district residents cause to question the survey.

According to the national survey, which was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic Education, most teachers value nonmonetary rewards, such as time to collaborate with other teachers and a supportive school leadership, over higher salaries.

But Karns City teachers, most recently, have rejected proposed wage increases of 2.1 percent for the contract's first year, which actually would be a retroactive pay hike for the current year, and 3.6 percent for each of the final four years of a five-year pact. The teachers are demanding pay hikes of 3.85 percent for each of the new contract's five years.

The average teacher's salary in the district is $52,812. The teachers have been working under terms of a contract that expired last June 30.

Meanwhile, another sticky contract issue involves teachers' contributions for their health care benefits. The teachers are offering to contribute $15 a month for individual coverage for which the district pays $430 a month, and $25 a month for family coverage for which the district pays $1,136 a month.

In the minds of the teachers, their proposal represents a sacrifice, since, using individual coverage as an example, teachers currently are paying $10 a month.

It doesn't matter to the teachers that people who are paying much more for less-comprehensive — some people would say inferior — coverage, and who are facing much more serious economic challenges, including pay freezes or concessions, will likely have to pay higher taxes as the result of a contract settlement.

Despite the Gates study's lofty picture, Karns City teachers, like teachers in other districts, are proving what many district taxpayers have long believed: Most teachers, and their union leaders, appear to be concerned, first and foremost, about their wallets and pocketbooks; the harm to students and parents caused by a strike is of lesser concern.

If the teachers union really was interested in projecting the findings of the Gates study, the union would be more willing to compromise, not only in terms of wages, but also in terms of health care contributions.

It's safe to say that the teachers would be getting a bargain even if they contributed $100 a month toward their medical coverage, considering the share of the bill taxpayers currently are footing. The district has, in fact, made a concession in its contract proposal by asking that the teachers pay just $40 a month for individual coverage and $45 a month for family coverage.

Meanwhile, in this economic environment, it is acceptable for the school district to use as a negotiating tactic a threat to withdraw pay retroactivity for the current year if the teachers don't agree to a contract by July 1 — as long as the district otherwise negotiates in good faith.

"When the school board proposed no retroactivity for the year that we worked without a contract, it was the ultimate professional slap in the face," said Chris Bellis, a district teacher who is serving as the teachers' chief negotiator.

Bellis might be inclined to rethink that position if teacher contract negotiations were compared with what goes on in private business and industry.

What the Karns City teachers are being offered is well beyond what the district rightly should be offering in this difficult economy. Instead, the teachers are attempting to hold the district hostage by way of their Sept. 1 strike date.

According to the AP article, the purpose of the Gates survey, which was conducted in 2009, and included opinions of teachers in every grade, in every state and across the demographic spectrum, was to keep teachers' voices in the debate over education reform, said Vicki Phillips, director of the Gates Foundation's K-12 education program.

But outside the spirit of that survey, the only voice now being heard by Karns City taxpayers emanating from the teachers union is one proclaiming, "Give us more — or else."