Governor's Budget Proposal Improves ESP Retirement
ESP provision removed from state budget bill In late April, the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee removed the ESP retirement provision from the state budget bill, citing a Legislative Fiscal Bureau paper that identified it as a non-fiscal policy item. Senator Fred Risser has plans, however, to re-introduce the item as separate legislation. |
Governor Doyle’s 2007-09 state budget plan would change state law so that education support professionals in Wisconsin public schools would be treated like teachers for purposes of determining years of service under the Wisconsin Retirement System.
The provision reflects an item in WEAC’s Legislative Agenda.
Under current state law, to become covered under the WRS, an individual must work at least one-third of full-time employment. For ESP, the Department of Employee Trust Funds defines full-time employment as 1,904 hours per year and one-third employment as 600 hours per year.
For public school teachers, librarians, and administrators, the department defines full-time employment as 1,320 hours per year and one-third employment as 440 hours per year.
This difference in calculating creditable service toward retirement has the effect of requiring ESP to work longer than other public education employees before reaching eligibility for WRS contributions.
The governor’s budget would require that ESP and teachers, librarians, and administrators are treated the same in terms of qualifying for coverage under the WRS, with full-time
employment for education support professional employees set at 1,320 hours per year.
Education Support Professionals include secretaries, paraeducators, bus drivers, custodians, and cooks.
According to WEAC’s Legislative Agenda, it is important to treat ESP like teachers for retirement purposes “if schools are to maintain the highest quality ESP.”
“This improvement will provide an incentive for ESP to stay in public schools for their entire careers, maintaining overall quality and experience among staff,” according to the Legislative Agenda.
Posted March 2, 2007