Concerned for the needs of county teachers, from the time of the legislative acts establishing common schools in Pennsylvania and a system of county superintendencies, teachers' organizations have been active in the Commonwealth. Beaver County was one of the counties that had formed educational associations and teachers' institutes before a convention of friends of education held in Harrisburg in January 1850 adopted a resolution "approving ... the organization of teachers' institutes and associations in each county," along with other recommendations to establish a Department of Education and the office of the County Superintendent in the Commonwealth." The State Teachers' Association was formed in December 1852 for the purpose of promoting education and improving the system of instruction in the state.
From that beginning came the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) in the twentieth century, a branch of the school districts' education associations. The state and national associations have been influential professional organizations in educational matters on the national and state levels, and the local branches of PSEA have played a supportive, shaping role in Beaver County. Each district has its own affiliated education association. The county as a whole over the years has had a Beaver County Branch of PSEA. Administrators and teachers filled the offices of president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer of the county organization and brought together some of the issues and programs of the local districts' groups. The County Branch became the Beaver County Coordinating Council in 1966-1967. In this organization, representatives of the fifteen school districts have discussed their mutual services and problems. Some professional members of the local and county branches of PSEA moved on to regional and state positions. Herbert P. Lauterbach of the Aliquippa School District was elected president of PSEA in 1951-1952, became an assistant executive secretary of PSEA, and finally, filled the office of executive secretary of the state association.
The Council has PSEA advisors and representatives who meet with local individuals and groups on request for counseling concerning matters of employment, retirement, benefits. When district associations are involved in employment disputes with their Boards of Education, the PSEA representatives offer advice and serve, if needed, as negotiators.
In the county, from May 15, 1969, through November 19, 1987, eighteen strikes occurred in the school districts, involving eleven districts and the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit. By the end of 1987, the only districts in the county that had never gone on strike were Center Area, Midland, Rochester Area, and South Side Area Schools. One district has had three strikes, four have had two strikes, and seven have had one strike."
Presently serving as president of the Beaver County Coordinating Council is Andrew Kostelnik. Working out of the PSEA office in Slippery Rock are two PSEA representatives in the county - Michael Hornick and John Chamberlin."
Most teachers in the county would agree that the state and county education associations have strengthened the schools and benefited teachers and all those affiliated with education in the county. The organizations also have their critics, who believe Beaver County teachers would never have engaged in strikes for better benefits without NEA and PSEA support. It is a difference of opinion not easily resolved.