Harleysville-Lansdale Real Estate and More: Teacher Strikes, Property Taxes and Arbitration - Oh My!

Our kids are home from school today.  It is Day 2 of a teachers' strike in the North Penn School District.  We live and work in this school district; we pay the property taxes and reap the benefits of an excellent public school system with a child in high school and another in middle school.

We have always liked, respected and admired our kids' teachers.  They are a wonderful, energetic group of professionals that helped our children thrive in school.  They deserve good pay and the support of the community.  Well almost all are good... there are a handful of teachers that I personally would like to see get thrown out of the district - but we can't get rid of them, they are tenured.

The threat of a strike was looming at the beginning of the school year but the teachers agreed to work without a contract in place.  Then the teachers' union and the school board agreed to non-binding arbitration which took several months.  So now it is late April and the 3 person arbitration panel unanimously agreed on a proposal.  The teachers' union agreed to the proposal.  Yeah!  Go Teachers!

However, the school board unanimously rejected the arbitration proposal.  The school board says it will cause a 24% increase in school taxes for the residents of the district.  Like most self-employed people we know, we took a pay "cut" in 2009 compared to previous years and have had to tighten our budgets.  For us personally, the estimated cost of this contract would be an extra $100 per month in school taxes.  Ouch!  Go School Board!

There is a lot of anger and frustration over this deadlock between the union and the school board.  Many are furious at the teachers and many are furious at the school board.  Let's be clear, no one is happy about the strike.  We had been in the midst of PSSA (PA state mandated testing), seniors will be taking their Advanced Placement tests in a few weeks and are losing valuable class time, spring sports and spring formals are all on hold or up in the air.  The school year will go until the end of June.  Graduation however is still on schedule, for now.

This is a tough one.  As Realtors, we see a lot of hardship out there, people who have lost their jobs, worried about losing their jobs, struggling with their mortgages, facing foreclosure in a real estate market that no one would characterize as robust.  Higher end homes with high enough property taxes are already in quicksand. 

BUT, compensation is what attracts and keeps great teachers, and great teachers make great schools.  And great schools attract professional working families.  Right?  But someone has to pay for all this greatness.

A few years back, a neighboring school district had a strike over the same issues - pay increases, benefits, pension plans....  AND they built a new high school (cha-ching!).  That district now has property taxes that are substantially higher than ours.  They always had a terrific reputation but the rise in taxes has not been matched by an equal rise in reputation.  So now, we see buyers steering away from that district because of the high property taxes.  It is not considered "better" than the other neighboring districts with lower property taxes.

There are so many top notch school districts in the Philadelphia suburbs (several districts are among the best in Pennsylvania and among the highest paid teachers), why would a buyer pick the one whose reputation does not match the taxes? 

We hope and pray the strike ends soon and the good teachers will be happy with the outcome and stay with North Penn.  But as we worry about our property taxes, we also worry about North Penn's reputation.  Will North Penn's reputation change for the better or worse? 

 ~Lisa

Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 for help buying or selling a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.

Teacher Strikes, Property Taxes and Arbitration - Oh My!  Copyright © 2010, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved.