Recent events, including the Nov. 2 election results, offer hope to those who would like to see an end to teacher strikes in Pennsylvania.

The coming power shift in Harrisburg will see not only more Republicans occupying more legislative seats and the governor’s office, but more of those Republicans will be from Western Pennsylvania.

Beyond the party shift, geography also could play a role.

Gov.-elect Tom Corbett is from a Pittsburgh suburb and state Rep. Mike Turzai, who was just elected by his fellow Republicans to the second-highest post in the House, is from Bradford Woods, in Allegheny County. And Rep. Dick Stevenson, R-8th, is now the administrator for the state House Republican Caucus, a leadership position.

If Corbett, Turzai, Stevenson or other officials from this part of the state have been reading the newspapers, watching TV or listening to the radio, they know that teacher strikes are making news and taxpayers are increasingly frustrated.

Two suburban Pittsburgh districts Bethel Park and Moon Area have gone on strike in recent weeks.

In Butler County, teacher strikes are not now in the news, but a strike threat at Karns City this year and recent strikes at South Butler and Seneca Valley are fresh in the minds of thousands of parents and taxpayers.

With power in Harrisburg shifting to Republicans, it is possible that legislation making teacher strikes illegal could advance and become law.

If that were to happen, it would not be a dramatic move, despite what the teacher unions might say. Teacher strikes already are banned in 37 states. Teachers in those states apparently earn reasonable salaries and benefits. Why would the law not work here?

There already are two House bills and a House Resolution to either ban or further restrict teacher strikes in Pennsylvania, but Democrats have blocked those measures from advancing.

It’s worth noting that in addition to the two current teacher strikes in the Pittsburgh area, there were six strikes in the 2009-10 school year across the state’s 500 districts. By comparison, in Ohio, where there are 612 school districts, there were no teacher strikes last year.

Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of being the teacher strike capital of the United States. And parents, as well as taxpayers, have had enough.

Each contract negotiation in recent years has found teachers getting annual raises well above those that the average private sector employee is seeing.

The other issue eroding support for teacher strikes has to do with health insurance and the generally small percentage that teachers contribute toward their health coverage. Average private sector workers pay for about 24 percent of their health care costs while average public sector workers contribute about 12 percent toward their coverage. But most public school teachers contribute far less, oftentimes less than 1 percent. As taxpayers look at their own budgets, this disparity is seen as unfair and unwarranted.

One possible solution would be to outlaw teacher strikes and impose financial penalties on both teachers and unions that engage in illegal strikes.

If, however, teacher strikes are going to continue in Pennsylvania, they should be real strikes not what now appear more like temper tantrums. Real strikes would mean shutting down the entire school district. When teachers do go out on strike, there should be no football, no cheerleading, no band, no orchestra, no musicals nothing. Why shut down academics, but allow extra-curricular activities to continue?

With a real stoppage, the full impact of the strike will be felt and more political support could build for banning teacher strikes. The pros and cons of the issue deserve a full and public hearing. Changes coming soon to Harrisburg should allow that to happen.

The time has come and the time is right to end teacher strikes in Pennsylvania.