March 2, 2023 at 9:07 a.m.
SDR board OKs 7.48% increase in total salary cost for 2023-24 school year
By By river news staff-
A proposal to increase overall teacher salary cost by 7.48%, with an equal settlement to non-instructional staff, was approved by the board in a split 4-3 vote.
Board members Judy Conlin, Benjamin Roskoskey, Merlin Van Buren and Ron Counter supported the measure. David Holperin, Duane Frey and Ron Lueneburg opposed. Board member Mary Peterson was absent and Mike Roberts abstained because his son is currently employed as a teacher within the district.
The proposal was based on the Wisconsin Employee Relations Committee releasing a Consumer Price Index amount of 8% for bargaining agreements beginning July 1. The increases bump starting teacher salaries up to $46,000, and resets the top of the scale at $79,900.
Those in favor felt the move was necessary to get the district back in line with other districts in the area in terms of offering a competitive salary to its teachers.
"One of our strategic plan goals in fiscal responsibility, but fiscal responsibility isn't just the dollar amounts that we spend," Conlin said. "It's how wisely we spend those dollars. Having the best teachers in front of our kids, teaching our students, is our biggest responsibility."
Those opposed balked at rate of the increase.
"I honestly, as a board member, I can't explain that to the constituency how I can justify raises like that," Lueneburg said. "Our teachers work hard but, I also think we need to have some realism in this too. That's just my opinion."
Those opposed backed an amended motion by Lueneburg for a 5% pay increase with a shift in the steps along the pay scale that would benefit new hires as well as the district's most tenured teachers. That amendment failed on a 4-3 vote.
The 7.48% proposal advanced to the full board by a 2-1 vote from the Employee Relations Committee meeting that was held earlier that evening. That moved forward over options that would have seen flat 5%, 6% or 8% increases in pay.
In presenting the proposal, SDR superintendent Eric Burke explained the substantial pay increase - on the heels of a similar 6.7% increase for the 2022-23 school year - was necessary to keep the district competitive within the marketplace.
Information provided in a memo to the school board listed the low and high ends of the teacher pay scale for nine area school districts for the 2022-23 school. According to the memo, Antigo had the lowest starting pay at $41,200 while Marshfield was lowest for the top end of the scale at $70,243. Three Lakes was the highest on both ends of the scale - at $46,222 and $85,189.
"There were some years where we got behind as a district," Burke said. "There were two years in the last 15 where there was zero increase and there's been below 2%. That's why, look at the schools that are in our region and where they're at ... Three Lakes is well above us, but they're a much smaller school district. Our goal is not pay more than Three Lakes. Our goal is that we want to be competitive. We have a great benefit program. We want to continue that but just being competitive in our region is what we're looking at."
"This brings us closer to the average, which we believe helps us with our goal of recruitment of staff," Burke added.
Conlin contended the rate of the pay hike is just as much about attracting new teachers as it is about retaining the teachers the district already employs.
"We invest a lot in our professional development. We expect our teachers to continually grow every single year," she said. "We invest in that and those middle teachers (on the pay scale) are the ones who get snapped up by other districts. They take advantage of the training that we've done, the experience they gained here and when they walk out the door, that's literally thousands of dollars we invested in them that go out the door to another school district."
According to the memo, the proposal would result in a net $1,015,659 increase in spending for the district from this school year - roughly $927,000 to the teacher scale, just under $300,000 for non-instructional staff, and $132,000 in additional payroll tax costs. Those increases are offset by six retirements, at a cost savings of roughly $345,000.
Additionally, District Director of Business Services, Robert Thom, stated that the financial burden could lessen in subsequent years with a substantial number of instructors on the upper end of the district's pay scale nearing retirement age.
"When you have 64 teachers on the top and their all going to be retiring in the next two, three, four years, that's a tremendous savings, and that's where you claw back the increase you give today," he said.
Still, some on the board felt the sticker shock of the increase would be too much for taxpayers.
"If we look at a two-year period, we're looking at a 14% increase over two years," Holperin said. "That's well above the inflation rate for the two years and we don't know if we're in a ... some people think we're in a decelerating phase. We got a jolt on inflation and now it's decelerating. I would actually be in favor of doing a little less."
Added Frey, "It's basically not that I'm anti giving teachers raise, I just thought it was too much for our community to absorb with the economy we're going into and things that will be happening in the future."
Those factors prompted Lueneburg to offer an amended motion that would see a flat 5% pay raise across the board, while removing the bottom tier of the pay scale and adding one more tier to a top. Lueneburg said those moves were designed to address concerns about starting salary while giving the district's longest-tenured employees an additional bump.
"I'm just not on board with the methodology of the 7.48% proposal because, if you really look at that in-depth, I think there are many more costs to it than approaching it a different way," he said in presenting his amended plan.
The amendment ultimately failed, split along the same lines. Lueneburg, Frey and Holperin voted in favor; Conlin, Counter, Roskoskey and Van Buren were opposed and Roberts abstained.
When discussion returned to the original proposal, Counter offered his justification for supporting the larger, 7.48% increase.
"I can explain it to my community because of the simple fact that our community, the vast majority of the community has had the biggest pay raises in probably our lifetimes over the last several years," he said. "I can also tell you that is not only do we compete with people in this area, but we compete throughout the state. For instance, we do our recruiting down in Oshkosh, in Stevens Point, over in the western part of the state, and we've got to remember that. Our cost of living is far higher here than if you go to the southern part of the state where you pay $3.07 for a gallon of gas, compared to $3.40. Our rents are about the same as they are in the southern part of the state. Our grocery costs are more high (sic). And if we take a look at, I brought up during the committee meeting, I have a friend who works at the mill who makes $27.20 an hour. He's a high school graduate and he gets paid overtime. Our teachers do not. Our teachers, if they come in on a Sunday to work lesson plans, prepare their rooms, stay after to grade papers - and most to a lot of them do - they get no overtime. I don't see this out of line at all. I can support it and I can defend it."
Burke said the passage of the operational referendum back in November, plus the district's current financial position, afforded the opportunity to offer the increase.
"The district has been very fiscally responsible," he said. "We continue to, and are trending to, give back over a million dollars to the fund balance for our budget. I would say we're in very good position with this ... I do agree with you, whether it's a 5% or 6% or 7.48, the two years, it's a big percentage. However we are behind. We're catching up and the community has supported us through the operational referendum to be able to make this kind of a decision to get us caught up. Because we're still fiscally responsible as a school board, as a school district, we're putting money back into savings each year, regardless."
Comments:
You must login to comment.