Madison school staff will receive an 8% base wage increase for the 2023-24 school year, district officials announced Tuesday.
The increase, which is the maximum allowed by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission for next school year based on inflation, is a significant jump from the 3.5% the district had included in its initial budget proposal. Madison Teachers Inc. had pushed for the 8% increase since negotiations began earlier this spring.
The School Board met in closed session last Thursday to discuss the base wage bargaining. The board will approve a preliminary budget later this month, including the base wage increase as well as fully funding salary increases for years of experience and educational attainment, known as “steps and lanes.”
In the news release announcing the change, board member Savion Castro called staff “the backbone of our school district and our school district is the heart of our community.”
“In the face of unprecedented challenges over the last several years, our educators and staff have remained committed to their daily work of building thriving learning spaces for our scholars,” Castro said. “Providing an 8 percent cost of living increase shows our dedicated employees how much we value them and their efforts.”
The move comes with long-term budgetary risk, though. The School Board will allocate an additional $12 million from the district’s fund balance, which serves as a rainy day fund and helps determine the interest rates the district pays on loans.
“Without additional revenue, the district faces an estimated more than $30 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2025,” the release notes.
School Board President Nichelle Nichols said in the release that “the state must increase its support for schools” in the upcoming biennial budget.
“Without additional revenue, the district will have to make difficult decisions to realign the impact of this budget over the next several years, including the possibility of pursuing additional sources of revenue,” Nichols said.
Gov. Tony Evers proposed a historic investment in K-12 education in his budget, but Republican legislators, who control both legislative chambers, have thrown out much of what he proposed and begun building their own base budget. The Joint Finance Committee has not yet discussed K-12 funding, though, leaving school districts in the dark about how much they can expect to be able to spend and receive in state aid.
If legislators increase revenue limits for schools, which they have indicated they will to some level, it will lower the future deficits somewhat.
In the release, MTI leaders suggested the investment “acknowledges our most vital asset for student achievement and a thriving community, which is our staff.”
Without the successful 2020 operating referendum, the district would have millions of dollars less in its revenue limit, which governs how much districts can spend through the combination of state aid and local property taxes. That would have forced it into further cuts.
The draft budget already cuts 60 teaching positions, a little more than one per school on average, and 155 positions total.
This upcoming year also brings the end of COVID-19 relief spending, which the district has used to help fund part of the salary increase, as well as other programs and staff positions.
MTI members and staff rallied multiple times this spring to support the 8% increase, including at the April School Board meeting where the initial budget proposal was shared. More than two dozen staff members spoke that night during public comment in front of a standing-room-only crowd of people wearing red to support the union.
Board member Nicki Vander Meulen said the public comment period helped convince the board to push for the full increase, as they heard how it affected staff lives.
“(It took) a lot of negotiations, but the main way was hearing the staff,” Vander Meulen said. “I think that had more of an impact than anyone could ever know.”
