Whitefish Bay Instructional Employees Compensation Committee

1. Whitefish Bay Instructional Employees Compensation Committee September 12, 2013

2. Why a Committee? • Wisconsin Act 10 and its impact on teacher compensation • Evolution of teacher compensation systems • Uniform (traditional) salary schedule. • Ad hoc schedule modifications following Act 10 • Laws and other limitations on the design of teacher compensation systems. • Design components of teacher compensation system

3. 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 • Collective Bargaining Changes (effective June 29, 2011) • Prohibits bargaining collectively with respect to any condition of employment except wages, which includes only total base wages and excludes any other compensation, such as overtime, premium pay, merit pay, performance pay, supplemental compensation, pay schedules, and automatic pay progressions. • Limited to bargaining over a percentage of a total base wage increase no greater than the percentage change in the consumer price index.

4. 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 • School boards are prohibited from bargaining over • The salary schedule • Pay for additional years of service (step movement) • Pay for professional development (lane movement) • School boards are not prohibited from having a salary schedule or paying step or lane movement – these are now unilateral decisions made outside of bargaining. (issue of affordability) • Act 10 gives school boards the power to design new teacher compensation systems outside of bargaining.

5. Evolution of Teacher Compensation Systems • Uniform salary schedule. • Ad hoc schedule modifications following Act 10. • Alternative compensation systems.

6. The Uniform Salary Schedule • Vertical steps represent pay for added year of service. • Horizontal steps represent pay for additional education. • Vertical and horizontal step movement is automatic – the school district has committed itself to pay the salary increases inherent in step movement.

7. The Uniform Salary Schedule • Problems: • Pay increases are automatic. • Sustainability- State Resources/Ability to pay • Boards and administrations lack control over teacher continuing education yet must pay increased salaries for it. • School board cannot control cost increases resulting from step movement. • The public may question whether the school board has given up too much. • Advantages: • Pay increases are automatic. There is a mechanism to move new teachers through the schedule to eventual pay equity with senior teachers. • Uniform schedule was highly predicable for teachers.

8. Schedule Modifications • Before Act 10, most unions resisted modifications of the uniform salary schedule. • Act 10 gave school boards the power to change the schedule and determine salary increases without union consent. • Many school boards made salary decisions to meet immediate needs without thought of long term implications. • The immediate need was the reduction in state aid and revenue limit authority in 2011-12.

9. Ad Hoc Schedule Modifications -Collective Bargaining • 2011-12: • Approximately 2/3rd of Wisconsin schools settled contracts before Act 10 took effect. • Most of those settled while Act 10 was pending. • Typical settlement involved no salary increase and no step and lane movement, employee payment of the employee share of WRS and a greater employee contribution toward insurance.

10. Ad Hoc Schedule Modifications -Collective Bargaining • 2011-12: • The other 1/3rd of Wisconsin schools: • Many also froze teachers in step and lane. • All required employees to pay employee share of WRS and most required greater employee insurance contributions. • Across-the-board pay increases were more common with the schools that did not settle before Act 10 became law. • Some schools eliminated salary schedules, replacing those with lists of names and salaries. • A very small number of schools started working on alternative compensation systems.

11. Ad Hoc Schedule Modifications -Collective Bargaining • 2012-13: • About 1/3rd of schools have pre-Act 10 contracts. • Many schools freeze step and lane movement again, although some are realizing that doing so creates a long term problem. • Teacher unions prioritize across-the-board pay increases.

12. Ad Hoc Schedule Modifications -Unilateral Actions • Schools with no pre-Act 10 contract start making unilateral modifications to schedules: • If the starting pay is too low, board may delete step from schedule, effectively giving step movement to some teachers but not others. • Schools that have froze teachers in step for one or more years grant lane movement to some teachers but not others.

13. Ad Hoc Schedule Modifications • Long term implications of the ad hoc/transitional schedule modifications: • An arbitrary salary schedule where it becomes increasingly difficult to explain why teachers are paid what they are paid. • Teachers in similar positions with similar education and years of service may be paid different amounts. • Teacher morale may suffer, staff turnover may occur • Discrimination suits over compensation may become a possibility.

14. Laws and other limitations on the design of teacher compensation systems

15. Considerations – Legal Implications • Individual Contract: Relationship to Wis. Stats. 118.21 and 118.22, i.e. teacher contract statute and teacher renewal of contracts statute. • Wis. Stats. 118.21 requires that the teacher’s salary be listed on the individual contract. • Can salary be reduced without going through the nonrenewal process under Wis. Stats. 118.22?

16. Considerations – Legal Implications • Public Records: • Teacher compensation is a public record that is subject to release. • Teacher evaluations are not a public record subject to release. • A pay system that pays teachers more for positive evaluations is subject to release.

17. Considerations – Legal Implications • Employment Discrimination Law: How will the compensation system be structured in order to minimize exposure to the following: • Age discrimination in employment claims; • Gender/sex discrimination in employment claims; and • Other prohibited bases of discrimination under state and federal law.

18. Considerations – Legal Implications • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Wisconsin Fair Employment Act • Equal Pay Act • Section 1981 • Section 1983 • Americans with Disabilities Act • Age Discrimination in Employment Act • Retaliation

19. Considerations – Legal Implications • Equal Pay Act • The Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from discriminating against both male and female employees on the basis of sex by paying different rates ". . . for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions . . . ." (29 U.S.C. 206(d)) • Exceptions exist where the difference is due to a bona fide seniority system, merit system, a system which measures compensation by quantity or quality of production or a differential based on a factor other than sex. The law is enforced by the EEOC.

20. Considerations – Legal Implications • If the Compensation System uses Student Data • Student Progress • Value added models • Individual student tracking [measurements within a specified period of time] • Implications • 118.30 (2) (c) The results of examinations administered under this section or under 20 USC 6311 (b) (3) to pupils enrolled in public schools, including charter schools, may not be used as the sole reason to discharge, suspend, or formally discipline a teacher or as the sole reason for the nonrenewal of a teacher's contract.

21. Designing a Compensation System

22. Design Components of Teacher Compensation System • What do we want out of our compensation system? • Attract and retain the best staff. • Some differentiation in starting wage may be necessary to attract teachers to hard-to-fill certifications. • Some differentiation in starting wage may be needed to attract other skill sets such as multiple certification teachers or teachers with special training. • Minimize damage to teacher morale resulting from salary differentiation.

23. Design Components of Teacher Compensation System • What do we want out of our compensation system? (Continued) • Motivate staff to pursue professional development of value to the school district. • Professional development to meet specific needs of the district. • Professional development that helps individuals improve their performance to increase student achievement. • Develop and utilize teacher leaders to support peers and the district initiatives. • Ensuring equity in the system by not rewarding under performance. • Sustainability / Ability to Fund • Consideration of long term financial health of the School District.

24. Design Components of Teacher Compensation System • Where do teachers new to the district start? • BA Base? • Pay increases for years of service or experience? • Pay for prior experience in other districts? • Additional pay for continuing education? • Additional pay for difficult to fill certification? • Other differentiations?

25. Next Steps • Educate and Study: • Analyze Compensation from Districts with whom we compete for employees. • Study other compensation models. • Develop Compensation System - propose to the School Board • Key Steps in the Process: • Involve instructional employees (from each school) in committee work. • Solicit feedback from instructional employees on criteria for compensation structures. • Provide appropriate progress reports and communications to the School Board and Stakeholders. • Assess the cost implications of proposed structures on School Districts financial resources.