ESP retirement
Background
Wisconsin's public schools are great when they maintain the highest
quality staff. An important part of maintaining quality staff is to
offer them a retirement benefit that is an incentive to spend an entire
career in public service. The improvements for Wisconsin's schools and
education professions have not happened by accident or chance. They
happened because generations of WEAC members made them happen.
Additional changes, however, are needed to modify how the Wisconsin
Retirement System (WRS) treats Education Support Professionals (ESP).
This group of education professionals is treated differently by the
WRS in terms of how they qualify for creditable service toward retirement.
Legislative history
Under current law, to become covered under the WRS, an individual must
work for a covered employer at least one-third of what is considered
to be full-time employment. For all WRS participants, other than teachers,
librarians, and administrators, the Department of Employee Trust Funds
(DETF) defines full-time employment as 1,904 hours per year and one-third
employment to be 600 hours per year.
In contrast, for teachers, librarians, and administrators, DETF defines
full-time employment as 1,320 hours per year and one-third employment
as 440 hours per year.
This difference in calculating creditable service toward retirement
has the effect of requiring ESP to work longer than other educational
staff to become eligible for contributions to be made to the WRS.
WEAC position
WEAC supports passage of legislation to improve the way retirement
benefits are provided to ESP by making the following changes:
- Requiring that Education Support Professionals and teachers, librarians,
and administrators be treated the same in terms of qualifying for
WRS coverage, with full-time employment for educational support professionals
set at 1,330 hours per year.
- Provide that the final average earnings of an education support
professional employee are increased by 25% for the purpose of determining
the initial amount of WRS retirement annuity.
- Reduce the amount that is required for the purpose of calculating
what constitutes a year of creditable service from 0.75 to 0.65 of
a year of creditable service. The result will be that ESP participants
will not have to work as many hours in a year in order to qualify.
Talking points
- WEAC represents the public policy, labor and professional interests
of its 94,000 members and believes they should all be treated equally
under the WRS. WEAC’s membership includes more than 15,000 Education
Support Professionals who perform a tremendous variety of tasks every
day.
- ESP play an important roll in providing every kid with a great
school. They work under a different calculation of creditable service
toward retirement. This has the effect of requiring them to work longer
than other educational staff before reaching eligibility for WRS contributions.
- Education Support Professionals are the secretaries, teacher aides,
bus drivers, custodians, and cooks employed in public K-12 schools
and technical colleges. If schools are to maintain the highest quality
ESP, their creditable time in service should be calculated the same
as all other education professionals. This improvement will provide
an incentive for ESP to stay in public service for their entire career
maintaining overall quality and experience among staff.
- Education Support Professionals transport students to and from
schools, and look after their safety and well being while they are
in school. They play critical roles in ensuring that students are
ready to learn in classrooms that work. Many make their principal
contribution to students' education by helping to keep schools running.
- Education Support Professionals create and maintain records, maintain
physical plant and grounds, and care for computer systems. Their time
spent in public service should be given the same level of respect
as all other professionals in public service.
Additional information
Contact Bob Burke at WEAC at 800-362-8034 ext. 254 or by e-mail at burkeb@weac.org
with any reactions, comments or questions.
Posted March 30, 2004
