Bill To Make Prep Time Mandatory
Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) and Representative Terry Musser (R-Black River Falls) are circulating a bill that would make teacher preparation time a mandatory subject of bargaining.
In a memo to all legislators, they said 60% to 70% of teacher contracts address preparation time in some manner. This means two things, they wrote:
- Many districts recognize the importance of preparation time, thus reinforcing the idea that it should be a mandatory subject of collective bargaining.
- Between 60% and 70% of districts have staff that are vulnerable to losing preparation time as long as it remains a permissive subject of bargaining.
"This is especially true in the current environment where teacher time is stretched tight as teachers serve in multiple capacities to meet the educational needs of children," they wrote. "As a result, teachers are left with little or no time in the day to prepare for classroom instruction and to meet the other demands on their time."
They noted that in Boyceville, the school board has proposed to eliminate all preparation time from the collective bargaining agreement only one year after the teachers fought to include elementary preparation time language.
In addition, they wrote, the Clintonville school board has proposed reducing preparation time, and the Wittenberg-Birnamwood school board is expected to try to eliminate preparation time during the upcoming bargain.
"These are just a few examples," they wrote. "In the end the children pay the price. We know that the quality of our children’s education suffers when teachers are not given enough time during the workday to prepare for the classroom."
Under the bill, school districts would be required to bargain collectively with respect to time spent during the school day, separate from pupil contact time, to prepare lessons, labs, or educational materials, to confer or collaborate with other staff, or to complete administrative duties.
The 2007-08 WEAC Legislative Agenda supports including teacher preparation as a mandatory subject of bargaining. According to the Legislative Agenda's talking points:
- Teachers, particularly those who teach elementary school students, lack adequate time in the school day to prepare lesson plans and other duties important to effective teaching since the day is consumed with classroom teaching responsibilities. Elementary school teachers are generally limited to preparation time during art, music and physical education whereas middle and high school teachers have more flexibility to use non-classroom periods to prepare.
- With cuts to education programming due to revenue caps, teacher time is stretched tight as teachers serve in multiple capacities to meet the educational needs of children.
- The quality of our children's education suffers when teachers are not given enough time during the workday to prepare for the classroom.
- Teacher preparation time should be a mandatory subject of collective bargaining because it directly impacts the work hours of teachers. Otherwise, the only alternative for teachers is to spend time outside the academic day preparing lessons – time that is not compensated. This is in addition to the many hours teachers spend volunteering for various school-related activities, including small group tutoring and after-school clubs, and many other activities parents and children have come to expect.
WEAC's 2007-08 Legislative Agenda
Posted June 5, 2007