New Act 10 twist might drastically cut teachers' pay in next contracts

[lutefisk]

If this analysis is correct, the increase in health insurance payments and deductibles, the increased workload (up 20% in some districts), reduced retirement benefits, and all the other punitive cuts made this year will be dwarfed by what's coming next. According to this article, teachers could have their salaries cut dramatically when they receive their next contracts... There seems to be disagreement over this interpretation of ACT 10 and Walker's latest "modifications"... but see what you think:

...As an example of how this will play out, below is the pay scale for the Monticello School District's teachers. Previously, the maximum a teacher could earn in the district was $52,927-- which is what someone who has a Masters degree, 24 hours of college credit and 12 years of experience is paid. Under the new rule, the maximum a teacher will be able to earn in future contracts is $38,167, which is the maximum for a teacher that has the minimum educational requirements, but many years of experience.

While it is true that the Act 10 era will prohibit the inclusion of all add-ons in future contracts-- including years of experience and additional education-- everyone had reasonably presumed that the starting point for salaries in their first post-act 10 contracts... would be the actual salaries they had been earning, and that the Walker administration wouldn't retroactively go back and eliminate previously earned salary components.

Nobody in their wildest nightmare thought Act 10 was going to be this devastating to teachers and other public workers.

http://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/walker-redefines-act-10s-base-wages-teachers-pay-likely-be-slash

[ewagner]

1. Just learned about this.

Nothing like re-motivating the teachers just before and election. This guy (Walker) is truly one of the least skilled politicians I've ever seen and worse yet, he's even worse at Governing that he is at politics.
W

[lutefisk]

2. The Cap Times is suggesting this might happen, too

If Walker wins the recall, seeing the teachers take a massive pay cut would be his retribution. And if they strike (and they will), he can finally have his true "Reagan moment".

The governor has crafted an administrative rule change — essentially an executive order — that allows for the redefinition of the pay schedule for experienced teachers. Specifically, the rule change gives school districts the option to eliminate some "add ons," such as advanced degrees, which can increase a teacher's salary.

What this means is that teachers who have remained committed to public education, and who have displayed that commitment by continuing their own education and earning masters degrees and even doctoral degrees, might now be penalized. Some teachers could lose as much as 30 percent of their current salary.

That's right: For the best and the brightest teachers in Wisconsin, a majority of whom happen to be women, Scott Walker's proposal could mean a pay CUT of as much as 30 percent.

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/scott-walker-s-war-on-teachers/article_db34c33a-8f4d-11e1-9124-001a4bcf887a.html

[Goblinmonger]

3. Just so I'm getting this right, this isn't a state mandate but an option for districts, yes?

That makes it a bit different. If a district chooses to do this and not all districts in the state do, then the good teachers will go to the districts that don't and the only ones left will be the bad ones. At least in theory. (I'm a teacher, btw) Not that this isn't scary crap, but the competitive nature of attracting teachers is going to have some play on this.

[lutefisk]

4. I think it's part mandate and part up to districts

...if that makes any sense. I am just trying to understand what they are up to, but I think it's safe to assume the worst.

Districts are well aware of the supply and demand dynamic for teachers in Wisconsin. With hundreds of people, in most cases, applying for each teaching position, the districts will save plenty of money if teachers leave and the new hires are at the bottom of the pay scale. The budgets have been cut, and the options to address the shortfalls have also been cut. Cutting pay might just be one of the tools they will use.

This is not human nature at its best.