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Revenue controls: A slow strangulation Rising costs and falling support
For a printed copy of this publication, send a request via e-mail to Cindy Gruendemann at gruendmannc@weac.org |
Wisconsin teachers are the most qualified in the nation but rank 23rd in pay, according to two separate reports released in October 2003.
Great schools depend on great teachers and school staff, and Wisconsin’s educational excellence is a tribute to the quality of its educators. That excellence is threatened, however, by state laws that limit local school district decisions about how to support their schools. And you have a stake in these decisions, because great schools benefit you.
Wisconsin has Great Schools
Great schools place students in classrooms that work, and Wisconsin’s
educators achieve amazing results in the classroom. Wisconsin students
have ranked first or second in the nation on the ACT college entrance
exam for 15 straight years. Year after year, our students score at or
near the top of national performance assessments in math, science, and
reading. Wisconsin’s high school students have consistently achieved
one of the highest graduation rates in the nation, with nearly three-quarters
going on to attend universities and technical colleges.
In a study of teacher qualifications, the Associated Press reported that 98.6 percent of Wisconsin teachers are “highly qualified” under new federal standards. That is the highest percentage in the nation.
The study was published just days after the National Education Association released its “Rankings of the States” report showing that Wisconsin teacher pay fell to 23rd in the nation in 2002-2003. That continues a downward trend that started with the state government’s passage of the Qualified Economic Offer law in 1993. That law undermines teachers’ collective bargaining rights by denying them the right to seek fair resolution of bargaining disputes through arbitration.
Teacher pay increased only 1.3 percent in Wisconsin from 2001-2002 to 2002-2003, while the national average for teachers during that period was more than twice that, 2.7 percent.
Wisconsin teachers are the most qualified and most effective in the nation. Wisconsin students are among the best in the nation by any objective standard. Yet Wisconsin teachers now earn below the national average and their ranking continues to decline.
Updated August 18, 2004
