Manitowoc contract rewards teacher renewal

The premise behind the new teachers contract in Manitowoc is simple: Highly trained teachers produce higher achieving students.

With that as the agreed-upon foundation, the school district and teachers union crafted an innovative contract for 1999-2001. It completely restructures the salary schedule to provide strong financial incentives for teachers to pursue professional development opportunities.

With the school board and union both focusing on the bottom line of student achievement, the Qualified Economic Offer law – and all the strife that goes with it – slipped into the background. Overall, the contract provides total salary and benefit increases of 4.36% and 4.37%.

But to get a decent raise under the new contract, a teacher cannot rest on his or her laurels. The salary schedule distributes money in such a way that it rewards teachers who take courses and earn credits through a variety of options.

“There is a cost,” said Superintendent John Crubaugh. “Do we believe the benefits outweigh the costs? We wouldn’t have done it otherwise.

“I don’t graciously give things away,” Crubaugh said. “We had to both come out winners, which I think we did.”

Crubaugh strongly believes that a well-educated teaching staff leads to better-educated students. He was not satisfied that 21% of Manitowoc’s teaching staff have master’s degrees, a number he calls “exceedingly low.” Statewide, more than 50% of teachers have a master’s degree. The lower percentage in Manitowoc is partly the result of a young teaching staff, in which nearly half have fewer than five years of experience.

“We must pay fairly and we must have lifelong learning,” Crubaugh said. “Kids do have a better chance to achieve at a higher level if teacher performance can be enhanced.”

Local association leaders agree.

“Of course, the association is always interested in benefits for members but equally interested in the increased success and achievement of students,” said MEA President Bob Jome. “Here was a way to accomplish both goals.”

Gary Bents, who has negotiated contracts for MEA for more than a decade, said everything just came together this year. In the past, the union and district have had an adversarial relationship, he said.

“There was a desire on both sides to find a way to break out of that pattern,” he said.

Negotiators held six or seven informal meetings in which they openly discussed issues in a non-adversarial format.

“We took a problem-solving approach,” Bents said.

The more the two sides talked, the more their proposals began to look alike, Crubaugh said.

Although what evolved was not a formal consensus bargaining approach, it very much resembled one, Bents and Crubaugh said.

“I don’t think we could have gotten this done in a traditional bargain,” Crubaugh said. At first, Crubaugh said, some board members were skeptical, but by the end, they were on board.

Jim Carlson, director of the Kettle Moraine UniServ Council (left), discusses the innovative new Manitowoc teachers contract with Superintendent John Crubaugh (center) and Manitowoc Education Association chief negotiator Gary Bents. Click on picture for larger version.

The new contract makes dramatic changes in the structure of the salary schedule. Previously, the schedule had only two lanes, one for teachers with bachelor’s degrees and one for teachers with master’s degrees. That provided very little incentive for teachers to pursue professional development.

The new schedule contains eight lanes including two five-step lanes for beginning teachers, varied opportunities for lane advancement, and additional compensation for teachers who earn National Board certification or doctorates.

There are several ways teachers can advance through the lanes. One is by taking traditional university credit courses. Another is by participating in the new Professional Development Certificate program, which is operated through the Institute for Learning Partnership at UW-Green Bay. The original idea came from the WEA Professional Development Academy.

Yet another is through the Manitowoc Public School District Academy. This academy will begin offering courses in January, and most of the courses will be taught by current staff and administrators in the district.

Other professional development opportunities may include action research, team learning and individual learning experiences. The opportunities will be aligned with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and will be designed to enhance skills and knowledge related to a teacher’s needs.

Jim Carlson, director of the Kettle Moraine UniServ Council, said teachers who don’t pursue professional development opportunities will receive limited pay raises under the new salary structure, while those who do will be rewarded.

“There is enough of an incentive that we believe people will pursue the acquisition of skills and knowledge, especially since it is offered in their own back yard,” he said.

In the end, the children benefit by having highly skilled teachers.

“That’s what drove the whole bargain,” Carlson said.

Posted September 28, 1999

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