QEO Hits Home for Teachers

By Terry Lawler

Bev Haas, a science and English teacher at Turner High School in Beloit, is angry.

“Everyone else gets raises, but we, as professionals, get attacked. I’m tired of my profession (being attacked) because we’re on the tax roll.”

Like many teachers victimized by the Qualified Economic Offer law and school district revenue controls, Haas has had to make a lot of changes in her personal life.

“Traveling is out, and we can’t do simple things like go out to eat as often. I’ve personally taken a $1,300 per year reduction in wages because of the increase in insurance costs. Why, after 29 years of teaching, do I have to take such a cut?”

It’s a question being asked by teachers throughout the state. Over the last 10 years, the QEO law – which has stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights – has eroded teachers’ economic security, caused many new teachers and some veterans to uproot themselves from their chosen profession, and is leading to a statewide quality teacher shortage.

Struggling for financial security, Haas takes paid supervisory duties at Turner as often as she can to supplement her dwindling wages. But these duties pay only $13 to $14 per event, she said, “and an event may last for four hours,” time taken away from her private life.

“I’m a reasonable person,” Haas said. “I just want to be treated like a professional.”

Linda Radke, Milton
A short distance away, Linda Radke is experiencing similar problems. Radke has been teaching for 19 years, the last eight at Milton High School, a place she chose because of its quiet, small-town atmosphere. But now she sees another side – a lack of support in the community for quality education.

“Our district has the lowest mil rate in the area. Yet, our board is not educating our taxpayers about this, and we will have the need for a referendum in the future. Because of the QEO, Milton is not hiring the new teachers it needs. Next year, I’ll be the third person in my department to take an involuntary overload schedule.”
Essentially, that means taking on an additional class during what would have otherwise been a prep period.

While Milton teachers get 9% of their salary as compensation for an overload, Radke said the overload represents an additional 20% of her time. That means the district is using overloads as a means to increase staff workload at teachers’ expense.
Radke views the overload as a “band-aid solution” that not only punishes teachers but is harming the quality of education.
“With an overload, I won’t have as much time for individual students. Is this the quality of education we want for our students? Teachers here are being pushed to their limits and beyond.”

At the same time, Radke’s wages are eroding rapidly. “Two years ago, my raise was 1.7%. This year it’s frozen.”

Grant Mattes, Reedsville
Grant Mattes, a 30- year veteran in Reedsville (near Manitowoc), who faces similar hardships, isn’t sitting idly by as he watches his wages, and those of his colleagues, erode.

When State Rep. Frank Lasee remarked in a newspaper article that Two Rivers’ top salary of $53,000 and Manitowoc’s $55,000 were “more than decent” wages for teachers, Mattes was incensed.

“For the past 10 years, my raises have averaged about 1.25% per year,” he wrote in response to Lasee. “The top of our salary schedule is $50,180 for a teacher with a master’s degree and 16 years of service. How many legislators have that much schooling and years of experience, and yet I don’t begrudge you your salary for your part-time position.”

Mattes also took exception to remarks Lasee made about teacher workloads.

“As an educated person, it is hard for me to fathom that you think teachers only work 190 days. Many teachers go to universities in the summer at their own expense to meet legislated requirements to maintain licensure. Is that not work? Many teachers sacrifice a portion of their summer to teach children who need help at a greatly reduced rate of compensation. Why do they do it? Because they care, Mr. Lasee.”

Mattes gets angry every time he sees a picture of Lasee or other politicians he views as “hostile to teachers” taken in a public school. “Teachers should strongly object to anti-education politicians being photographed in our schools,” he said.

As a result of the QEO law and lack of support from public officials such as Lasee, Reedsville is having trouble retaining teachers, Mattes said. “Many have gone to larger districts. At the elementary level in my district, one teacher will be retiring this year and no replacement will be hired.”

Mattes anticipates that he will be earning “$700 a month less than teachers with my education and experience in nearby larger districts.” Meanwhile, Reedsville administrators have enjoyed “3% annual raises in wages with no change in benefits.”

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Haas, Radke, and Mattes teach in districts separated by distance, but they and their districts share the same critical problems. Eroding salaries, reduced staffs, and endangered benefits are threats to teachers everywhere in Wisconsin.

As Mattes wrote in his letter to Lasee, “It is time for you to support teachers rather than suppress teachers. We serve the public but we aren’t servants, and we shouldn’t be paid a servant’s wages.”