Madison Teachers Reach Early Contract Consensus

Madison Teachers Inc. and the Madison Metropolitan School District have reached a contract agreement for the 2001-03 school years.

For the second year in a row, Madison Teachers Inc. reached the agreement ahead of schedule. The settlement came more than a month before the current contract expires.

Under the new contract, Madison's 2,475 teachers will receive, on average, a 4% pay increase the first year and a 3.35% pay increase the second year. The teachers will also get a day off to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and will keep their Wisconsin Physicians Service insurance plans.

The contract also provides for better working conditions. It outlines a procedure for having school administrators deal with teachers' concerns about disruptive students and calls for reform in use of sick leave and notice of emergency situations.

Teachers will receive a salary and benefit increase of 4.24% during the 2001-02 school year, which will cost the school district $162 million. The next year, teachers will receive an increase of 4.2%, costing an additional $8 million.

The increase will boost the average teacher's salary from $45,394 to $47,210 next year.

"Our teachers certainly deserve much, much more than we were able to give them," superintendent Art Rainwater said.

John Matthews, Executive Director of Madison Teachers Inc., was also disappointed in the 4% increase in teacher pay. "Teacher wages in this state are deplorable. Many (teachers) are retiring in their prime…many university students who were considering the education profession see it as a place they cannot make a living," he said.

"Unlike nuns, teachers don't take a vow of poverty," Matthews added.

Madison Teachers Inc.
Madison Metropolitan School District

Posted May 29, 2001