Don't strike, teachers

Washington law prohibits teacher strikes to protect the critical function of education. This point bears repeating as nearly a dozen school districts with expiring teacher contracts face down the threat of a strike.

In the Bellevue School District, teachers voted to strike on Sept. 2 — the first day of school — if a tentative contract is not agreed to by then. Similar rumblings emanate from the Snoqualmie and Northshore school districts.

A judge should stand ready to enforce the law. The Legislature should consider strengthening the law with penalties. Teacher strikes are a terrible tactic. While adults argue about money, academics lag, parents scramble for child care and students, who rely on schools for everything from an education to a hot meal, suffer.

Look to the Issaquah and Marysville school districts for examples. Unpleasant memories of labor strikes in those districts linger years later.

Prohibiting strikes doesn't harm the spirit of union negotiations. There is room for reasonable disagreement about salaries and other workplace issues. There is even agreement on many of these issues. Despite education's prominence in the state constitution, it is an underfunded mandate. A state task force has been charged with creating a budget that fully funds education. Voter-approved levies, once envisioned to pay for extras, now make up a fourth of school budgets.

Teachers and other school employees received an 8.1 percent pay raise over the current biennium. Last year they received a 3.7 percent increase, this year it is 4.4 percent.

Facing a nearly $3 billion deficit, the Legislature isn't likely to be more generous. In other industries, pay raises have been replaced by layoffs, weakening any sympathy teachers might otherwise engender.

Much of the tensions in the current round of contract negotiations center on local budgets, rather than state coffers. This is because school employees hired with local levy funds didn't receive the pay raises approved by lawmakers. Those employees and their unions are pressuring local budgets already constrained by rising costs, from fuel to health care.

Bellevue is a prime example. It admirably spends the large amount of levy dollars it takes in to hire extra staff to lower class sizes and enhance learning programs. But when the state hands out raises, districts such as Bellevue receive a hefty bill.

A short-term solution to this problem remains elusive. Longer range, the Legislature should consider incorporating voter-approved benefits — such as Initiative 728, the class-size-reduction levy — into the general budget. It wouldn't instantly harmonize relations between school districts and their employees, but it might soften the tones during contract negotiations.