Doyle Budget Repeals QEO

Governor Doyle's state budget proposal – delivered to the Legislature Tuesday (February 13, 2007) – would repeal the Qualified Economic Offer law, maintain two-thirds state funding of schools, and provide added funding for 4-year-old kindergarten and smaller class sizes in the early grades.

"We have a special and sacred obligation to the children of this state," Doyle said in his budget address. "This budget is not merely a set of numbers and actuarial tables. It is a statement of priorities ... our commitment to nourish the abilities, energy and creativity of every Wisconsin child."

Under the governor's plan, schools will receive a modest 3% increase to keep up with inflation and the rising cost of fueling buses and heating buildings.

The governor's budget also:

• Includes a major new investment in the school breakfast program, 4-year-old kindergarten, and smaller class sizes from kindergarten through 3rd grade.
• Reforms the school finance formula by helping rural districts with transportation costs, provides relief to schools with declining enrollment, and continues to address the disparity faced by low-spending districts.
• Gives communities added flexibility to partner with local law enforcement to put more police officers in schools and devotes more resources to mentoring new teachers.
• Provides bonus pay of up to $5,000 a year for teachers who upgrade their skills, become state or nationally certified, or take on assignments in the most challenging schools.
• Provides a $53.6 million increase in special education aid to raise the state's share of special education costs from 28.6% to 29%.
• Increases the state reimbursement rate for school transportation costs related to students traveling more than 12 miles.
• Provides additional funding for the state to maintain its current share of support for bilingual-bicultural education services.
• Treats public school support staff like teachers for purposes of determining years of service under the Wisconsin Retirement System eligibility.
• Provides an additional $6 million over the biennium for the Workforce Advancement Training Grant Program to help Wisconsin’s technical colleges train an additional 36,000 workers.
• Ensures Wisconsin students have America's best teachers by repealing what the governor called "the outdated, inflexible QEO." The governor said he wants to "provide more flexibility for teachers
  and school boards to work together to find better ways to link teacher compensation with effective teaching, address escalating health insurance costs, and create equity between teachers and other public employees in bargaining."

The Qualified Economic Offer law has stymied teacher pay in Wisconsin by undermining the collective bargaining rights of teachers. Under the law, school districts can avoid arbitration by offering total pay packages of 3.8%, including benefits. Because rising health insurance costs eat up most of the 3.8%, teachers typically get very small pay increases, if they get any at all. Since the QEO law was implemented in 1993, average Wisconsin teacher salaries fell 9.6% when adjusted for inflation. For 2004-05, Wisconsin's average teacher salary ranked 22nd in the nation, about 7.1% below the national average teacher salary.

The governor has long advocated for repeal of the QEO. This session, he has more support than in the past because of a Democrat-controlled State Senate.

WEAC President Stan Johnson applauded Doyle’s budget proposal, saying it preserves the governor’s commitment to our great schools and bolsters the state’s economic future by investing in students, schools and public school employees.

“The governor’s budget keeps the state’s promise to students and schools while investing in the future,” Johnson said. “Great schools depend on great teachers and staff, and the governor’s budget sends a message to public school employees and future educators that Wisconsin is a place that values their profession and their talents.”

Doyle's budget also officially launches the Wisconsin Covenant program which he has been touting for months. The program provides a guarantee that every young person who is willing to work hard and make the grade will have a spot in college and a financial package to help pay for it.

The governor's budget also increases financial aid by $44 million and makes a major investment in the University of Wisconsin System to hold down tuition – granting every student on financial aid an increase in their scholarship that will match a tuition increase, dollar for dollar.

Other specifics of the governor's budget plan include:

• Provide $3 million in fiscal year 2008-09 to assist school districts with the initial costs of starting up 4-year-old kindergarten programs and to encourage collaboration between public schools and other early childhood education providers.
• Increase funding for the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program by raising the per-pupil reimbursement amount from $2,000 to $2,250 beginning in the 2007-08 school year.
• To address the concerns of declining enrollment districts, modify the revenue limit calculation to increase the hold-harmless provision for declining enrollment districts from 75% to 100% and to ensure that total district revenues, controlled by the revenue limit, will not decline below the revenue limit allowed in the prior year.
• Encourage more school districts to implement school breakfast programs and improve Wisconsin's last-place state ranking in school breakfast participation by tripling total funding for the program and providing a 50% increase in the state's reimbursement rate for school breakfasts.
• Modify school district revenue limits to exempt costs related to providing mentors for new teachers as required by the Department of Public Instruction's licensing rules.
• To improve equity in school spending, increase the per-student low revenue ceiling, below which school districts are exempt from revenue limits, from $8,400 per student to $8,700 in fiscal year 2007-08 and to $9,000 in fiscal year 2008-09.
• To increase student proficiency in languages other than English, provide funding to support the introduction and expansion of world language instruction in the elementary grades, and teacher exchange programs with other countries.
• Expand the grant program for teachers who receive certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to include teachers who receive master teacher licenses under the state's new licensure rules. Provide an additional $2,500 annual salary supplement to master or National Board Certified teachers who teach in a school where more than 60% of the students are eligible to receive a free or reduced price lunch.

For more information about the governor's state budget proposal, visit the Cyberlobby in the OnWEAC Members Only site.

Posted February 14, 2007