MOUNT AIRY, Pa. – So this is what happens when unions manage to infiltrate charter schools.

Teachers at Khepera Charter School in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania have vote to authorize a strike following 18 months of fruitless negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Perhaps it’s time for Khepera to close its doors, re-open in a year or two and start fresh with a non-union staff. Unionization has obviously stolen away the qualities that usually make charter schools desirable alternatives to traditional public schools.

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Among those special qualities are teachers who understand that schools exist for the benefit of children, not staff, and the educational process should never, ever be interrupted over adult financial disagreements.

There is nothing more despicable than holding the education of children hostage in an effort to secure money or benefits. When that happens, the teachers and their financial interests have become more important than the kids, and the mission of the school has been twisted and destroyed.

Consider the following statement from Kim Johnson, president of the Khepera teachers union:

“Teachers want to provide the best education possible, but without a contract, many of our teachers are looking for jobs elsewhere so they can support their own families, pay their student loans and apply for mortgages. It’s taken its toll on the close relationships that have been established between the teachers, the children and the parents.”

So the lack of a new legal document is causing teachers to cool off their relationships with students and parents? Does their dedication to students expire the same day that the union contract expires? If that’s the case, their dedication never had much depth to begin with. The school might be better off if they secured employment elsewhere.

Even worse is that these union contract wars happen on schedule, every few years. A union contract will expire, the school board will be hesitant to give the union everything it wants in a new contract, so a “crisis” suddenly exists. It’s a huge and unnecessary distraction that does not belong in our schools.

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What’s really said is that this is happening in a charter school. Union wars are standard procedure for traditional schools, but charters are supposed to be special schools where children are the sole focus, and every other consideration is a very distant afterthought.

We suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to hear that this is happening in Pennsylvania, which is widely recognized as the teacher strike capital of the world. But only a handful of charters in the state have unionized, and none of the teachers have abandoned their students yet.

We hope the teachers of Khepera think long and hard before walking away from their jobs. If they follow through with a strike, their school will be no more special than the traditional labor-infested dropout factories that have been shortchanging families and taxpayers for years.

That would be a terrible shame.