| By Terry Lawler
These are just a few of the casualties of the
Qualified Economic Offer law:
- College student Eric Lewin, who aspired to be a teacher like
his mother and grandparents, has switched his major to journalism
after seeing the pain and uncertainty the QEO has caused his
family.
- Young teacher Patrick Mulvey, facing a potential layoff and
an uncertain financial future as a teacher, may end his quest
for attaining the master’s degree he thought would help
him become a better teacher and boost his career. In fact, it
may now be a waste of his time and actually make him less marketable.
- Veteran teacher Mary Lou Mayer is delaying her retirement
because “there’s not enough money in my retirement
fund for me to make it.” After dedicating her life to children
and education, she is being punished at a time she should be
rewarded.
These are victims of the QEO law, which has
stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights, caused
Wisconsin teacher salaries to stagnate, and devastated the morale
of one of the best teaching forces in the nation.
The law hits teachers young and old, and their
families. Perhaps most importantly, it is causing some of the
best and brightest college students to steer away from what once
was considered a desirable profession.
Eric Lewin
 | | Eric and Amy Lewin | Beloit native Eric Lewin went to the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee last fall with the intention of becoming
a teacher. “I wanted to teach high school history,”
he said. “I also wanted the opportunity to coach students,
something I really love.”
But during the second semester, Eric took a
closer look at his decision. “I saw that teachers were not
making decent money, and I thought it would be unwise to invest
all this money in my education and then face financial uncertainty
when I got out.”
As the son of a teacher, Eric already has seen
and experienced that financial uncertainty. His mother, Amy Lewin,
a Beloit Township elementary school teacher, suffered through
a salary freeze for three years.
“Then this year we had a salary cut because
of increased insurance costs and the QEO,” she said. “I
gave over $1,000 back.”
On top of that, the family faces sharply higher tuition costs
as a result of state budget cuts.
“Teachers feel they’re giving, giving,
giving, and getting nothing in return,” she said.
Amy Lewin knows that her own frustrations affected
Eric’s decision to switch majors, and she has mixed feelings
about that.
“When he told me he wanted to go into education,” she
said, “even though he would be a great teacher, I had some
reservations. Still, my parents were teachers, and Eric would
be our family’s third generation in the profession.”
But Eric couldn’t ignore the impact of
the QEO on his family.
In addition to his mother’s salary freeze and payback, her
prep time has been cut. Not only is her family suffering, so are
the children in her classroom. Amy has always spent about $200
a year of her own money on her classroom. Now, she no longer can
afford to do that.
Eric, who was a sports columnist for the Beloit
Daily News as a junior at Turner High School, is now planning
to earn a journalism degree.
“I’d like to write about sports and
I still find ways to work with high school athletes.” A natural
teacher, Eric puts in volunteer time with Turner’s track
team and will help run a speed camp at Turner this summer.
Patrick Mulvey
 | | Patrick Mulvaney | In West Bend, elementary school teacher Patrick
Mulvey believes the QEO law and school district revenue caps damage
teachers in ways most people don’t consider.
“The QEO and caps put ‘catch-22’
dilemmas into nearly every aspect of a teacher’s life,”
he said. “For example, this is my sixth year of teaching
but not in the West Bend district. My seniority is low, and we
are being threatened with cutbacks in positions. I’m working
on my master’s degree to advance my position on the pay scale,
but I wonder if I should stop. If my position is cut, would that
degree make it more difficult to find another teaching job?”
As a dedicated teacher and a dedicated family
man, Mulvey faces a dilemma. “We make differences in our
students’ lives,” Mulvey said, “but we deprive
our own children. My wife must work for us to make it, especially
since the birth of our son, Sam.”
At the same time, working conditions at the
school are becoming more demanding. “Most days,” Mulvey
said, “I don’t have time for lunch.”
And more bad news is on the horizon. West Bend
teachers and support staff received a communication from the district
that, due to budget problems, it is considering eliminating elementary
fitness, art and orchestra classes; middle school foreign language
and exploratory classes; high school teacher aides and custodial
services; athletic coaching positions; and social worker and psychologist
positions.
More ominously, if the board approves West Bend’s
administration’s budget recommendations, “a reduction
in staffing will result,” even though the legal deadline
for non-renewal has passed. That is very unsettling for a young
teacher with a new baby.
Mary Lou Mayer
 | | Mary Lou Mayer | Mary Lou Mayer, Mulvey’s colleague at Jackson
Elementary School, faces an equally frustrating problem. “This
is my 33rd year of teaching. Next year I could retire, but because
of my salary, which has not increased very much over the past
several years, there’s not enough money in my retirement
fund for me to make it. So, I have to keep teaching, getting very
little or even less money each year.”
Mayer typically spends “well over $500
to $700 per year” out of her own money to supplement her
classroom.
In her room is a puppet theater she purchased
for her class. Scattered around her room are textbooks she has
purchased because “some textbooks are very outdated and can’t
be replaced because of lack of funds.”
“We keep getting told that we’ll just
have to work harder. Many nights I stay in this school until 6
or 7 p.m.”
But after 10 years of it, she’s tired of
being told that everyone is expected to make sacrifices in tough
economic times. “I look at the salaries of my non-teaching
professional colleagues and often they’re two to three times
higher than mine.”
Growing bitterness
A promising young man who will never join the ranks of teaching,
a six-year veteran concerned about his future, a 33-year veteran
teacher who can’t retire and sees little reward in continuing
to work. The QEO and revenue caps have gone far beyond simply
holding educators down financially; they have insinuated themselves
into every facet of educators’ lives.
Typical of most of Wisconsin’s teachers,
Lewin, Mulvey, and Mayer still speak enthusiastically about their
students and the accomplishments they achieve in their classrooms.
But it’s often flavored with bitterness.
“Teaching is its own reward,” Mulvey
said, “but because we love the kids, they have us over a
barrel.” 'The QEO law has changed
our lives'
Resource page on the Qualified
Economic Offer law Posted June 11, 2003 |