Teachers, Others Support Bill to Repeal the QEO

Teachers and supporters of public education pack into a State Capitol hearing room to tell the Senate Education Committee how the Qualified Economic Offer law is affecting the quality of education in Wisconsin. WEAC President Terry Craney and WEAC Collective Bargaining Director Michael McNett (center) testify that the law is unfair to teachers and is turning qualified people away from the teaching profession.

By Sarah Jancich

The Qualified Economic Offer law might force Kelly Gates out of the classroom.

Gates, who has has taught kindergarten in Manitowoc for four years, told the Senate Education Committee Wednesday (June 13, 2001) that she had to take a second job to make ends meet.

"Should any professional really need to work a second job just so they can continue to do what they love, teach, and have some of the things that are important to them?" she asked the committee, which was hearing testimony from Gates and dozens of other people on a bill that would repeal the QEO.

The author of Senate Bill 200, Sen. Kevin Shibilski of Stevens Point, said the QEO discriminates against one group of professionals - teachers.

"I believe that every man and woman has a right to unfettered collective bargaining," he said.

WEAC President Terry Craney said the QEO contributes to an anti-teacher political atmosphere that is causing many quality educators to leave the classroom and is discouraging qualified young people from entering the teaching profession.

"Fifty percent of college students with a teaching degree never enter the profession," he said. "Twenty percent of new teachers leave the profession after just a few years in the classroom."

Since the QEO was implemented in 1993, Craney said, Wisconsin teachers have received 1.9% in salary increases, a figure well below the inflation rate.

Fond du Lac teacher Hedy Reynolds told the committee about her colleagues who are earning salary increases of less than $300 a year.

"Is this any way to treat people who have committed their lives to the education of our children?" she asked.

The main hearing room in which the Senate Education Committee heard testimony on the QEO repeal bill was so crowded that two separate rooms were set up for people to watch or listen to the testimony via internal broadcasts. The first spillover room above was quickly filled to capacity, forcing officials to open a second room.