Bills Address Pay for State-Employed Teachers

Two legislators have agreed to sponsor legislation that changes the way the pay ranges of state-employed teachers are calculated.

The bills – sponsored by Sen. Richard Grobschmidt and Rep. Gregg Underheim – would require the Department of Employment Relations to use a blended average of statewide public school and technical college salaries. The pay ranges would then be submitted by DER to the Legislature in the compensation plan.

The bills would not guarantee market rate adjustments. The pay adjustments would still have to be bargained; however, the bills would provide a benchmark and illuminate the issue of market rates.

State-employed teachers are represented by WEAC Council #1.

This bill has been introduced, in one form or another, twice before and has been vetoed by the governor. In his veto message in 1990, the governor indicated he wanted to make sure that state-employed educators were compensated according to the market.

Additionally, Sen. Robert Wirch, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Retirement, and Rep. Terry Musser have agreed to sponsor a bill to give protected status, for retirement purposes, to teachers and librarians in correctional institutions, mental health facilities, the Wisconsin Resource Center and the new sexual predator facility in Mauston.

Posted March 4, 1999