By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

LANGHORNE, Pa. – If you pay attention to the education reform movement long enough, you’re bound to hear about some gritty and tenacious reform “warriors” who consistently support students and taxpayers against the self-serving teacher unions.

Pennsylvania’s Neshaminy school district has a number of such leaders, both on the school board and within its administrative ranks.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Earlier this week, a group representing Neshaminy’s principals and mid-level managers agreed to a three-year contract that contains a salary freeze, a 17-percent employee contribution toward health insurance premiums, and other money-saving givebacks, repots BucksLocalNews.com.

That type of compromise is especially important to cash-starved school districts like Neshaminy.

“Our administrators lead by example,” said board president Ritchie Webb, according to the news site. “They gave up the $27,500 cash incentive (for retirement) and they gave up the fully paid health benefits in retirement.”

“To give up a raise for three years is substantial these days,” Ritchie added.

The leadership exhibited by the principals and administrators stands in stark contrast to the selfish and arrogant behavior of the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers. Just last school year, the union staged two teacher strikes in a failed attempt to extort raises and expensive perks from the school board.

Ritchie hopes the selflessness of school leaders will inspire NFT members to re-think some of their costly demands (i.e. free health insurance), which have held up contract talks since 2007.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

That doesn’t seem too promising, though. The NFT just walked away from its 57th negotiation session with the board, reports LevitTownPatch.com. By most accounts, the union left a fair and generous offer on the table.

Eventually the board and the NFT will reach a deal. When they do, Ritchie has promised taxpayers that the board will make the contract details public before any final action is taken.

Kudos to Webb, who understands that taxpayers should have input on a collective bargaining agreement that will cost them a lot of money. And kudos to the district officials who accepted the salary freeze. They can honestly say that they put kids first.