Tie pay cap repeal to performance
3:11 PM 7/03/04

The Wisconsin task force plan to revamp public education spending contains one unexpected finding: A recommendation to link teacher pay more closely to student academic performance. <

Unfortunately, the task force doesn't map out how school districts and teacher unions would let go of a deeply entrenched wage system based on job longevity and educational levels - other than to recommend eliminating a limit on teacher salary hikes. <

That's a sop to Gov. Jim Doyle, who appointed the task force and has sought to repeal the cap since the early days of his term. This cap, called the qualified economic offer, allows school districts to avoid arbitration if they offer teachers a total salary and benefits increase of 3.8 percent a year. <

Simply eliminating this limit and hoping for the best seems excessively naive. Once the caps are off, school districts would have no leverage to enforce the suggested system of incentives to improve teaching skills and learning. And because schools would continue to operate under their own caps on annual budget increases, many districts will be unable to afford new and higher pay and benefit demands. Under this scenario, if unable to strike a deal with the teachers union, they would have to plead their case to independent contract arbitrators. <

Teacher pay is a critical issue because schools spend most of their money on payroll. To limit the overall burden on taxpayers, districts are forced to keep a reasonable limit on pay raises and benefit cost hikes. <

There's no doubt the salary limits helped keep the lid on. Teacher pay and benefit packages, which were increasing 6.9 percent to 8.3 percent annually in the 1980s, slowed to an average 3.7 percent to 3.9 percent. <

Task force chairman Michael Spector, a former school board member, argues that lifting these caps now will enable schools and unions to jump-start "real bargaining" on pay for performance as well as the biggest factor in rising payroll: skyrocketing health care costs. <

Benefit costs, primarily health care, are squeezing school budgets. In 1984-85, teacher pay averaged $21,848 and with benefits, the total package cost districts $28,641 per teacher. In 2002-03, pay averaged $42,089, but with benefits the total package had rocketed to $62,536. <

Spector insists that teachers would be willing to pay more for health care if they could get bigger pay raises in return. Unilaterally lifting salary caps would be a dubious strategy to force changes in health plans that offer generous coverage but currently require little or no contributions from teachers. <

The threat of job loss seems to work better in cash-starved school districts. Even without an end to pay caps, Waukesha teachers have found the will to start paying for part of their prescription drug purchases. They also adopted a contract that automatically triggers small co-payments if health premiums increase by more than 20 percent in the second year of the contract. <

In Port Washington, the labor contract now calls for teachers to choose between two health insurance plans. Under the more expensive plan, teachers must either pay more for their monthly premium or pay a 20 percent co-payment. The other plan does not require a co-payment. Teachers pay 6.5 percent of their monthly premiums under both plans. <

It's easy to sympathize with teachers who've long endured wage caps under the state-set minimum pay offer. But lifting this salary cap as a goodwill gesture would be a mistake: It must be more directly tied to new performance standards and health coverage changes. <

The task force has a laudable goal in linking teacher pay more closely to schools' academic performance. But without a more specific implementation plan, the plan to lift pay caps is fatally flawed. <

Monday: Now it's up to you