You hit the nail on the head! Our problem in Pennsylvania, especially in rural, less affluent districts like South Butler, Mars, and Seneca, is the current funding structure of public education.

We both agree that strikes are a bad thing, but I do not believe that simply constitutionally banning the right to strike is the solution. At best, it's a band-aid, and at worst it's an infringement on personal freedom.

Property taxes are inherently progressive, but when implemented and distributed only on a local basis they're also discriminatory. Communities like ours, where most of us don't own huge houses and much of the land is covered with forests and farmland, can't afford to bear the burden of a quality public education system alone. Worse still, the state taxes we are already paying aren't being distributed fairly. Between the three school districts in southern Butler County, we receive $1000 LESS per student than the statewide funding average. So not only are we disadvantaged by a poorer local tax base, but we're also getting a significantly lower return on the taxes we are paying.

We both also agree that teachers, like anyone else in any other profession, are going to go where the money is. We have the strongest free market, capitalist economy in the world, and it operates primarily on this principle. Anyone here pretending that teachers are somehow exempt from basic financial reality is quite frankly absurd.

Obviously, we're never going to afford the same individuals that other districts, like North Allegheny or Fox Chapel, are fortunate enough to attract. However, we're already paying more than enough taxes to deserve better. Unfortunately, too many of us are caught up in this silly strike business to notice that our legislators aren't doing their job and fighting to bring our tax dollars back to our community.

Of course, school funding structures aren't very interesting, and it's much easier for politicians to exploit the emotions of teacher strikes for re-election campaigns than it is for them to substantively address the real issues causing the problem.

I suppose it boils down to a simple question: Are you more concerned that our children have a two-week break in classes and are stuck in school through June, or that their access to a a quality education and excellent teachers is being increasingly limited by an unfair tax system?

As a person who prefers practical solutions to political band-aids, I choose the latter.