Treat Teachers Like Professionals, Doyle Says in Glendale

Glen Hills Middle School teacher Tom Gigante shows Governor Doyle some classroom materials in the school's computer lab.

The Qualified Economic Offer law is putting Wisconsin's great schools in jeopardy and must be repealed, Governor Jim Doyle said Tuesday (May 20, 2003) after touring a Glendale school and visiting with teachers.

"The QEO must go," Doyle told a news conference at Glen Hills Middle School, where he toured a computer lab class and spoke to students at a school assembly.

At a news conference following his tour, the governor said: "If we want to keep our outstanding teachers and attract more bright young people to the profession, we need to treat our teachers like what they are - professionals who are highly trained and deeply committed to our kids."

That, he said, requires repealing the QEO law, which has stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights and led to a degradation of teacher salaries in Wisconsin.

Four Glen Hills teachers told reporters how the QEO has harmed them, their great school, and their families.

"The QEO has had devastating results on the teachers of Wisconsin," 6th-grade teacher Dick Best told reporters. "In Glendale, a small district of 84 teachers, our wages have been flattened and our bargaining power disabled."

Best said other area districts are experiencing similar problems, including high turnover in teaching staff.

"We need our best and brightest to meet the challenges of educating our children," he said. "The students of Glendale, and Wisconsin, deserve great schools, but the QEO places that goal in jeopardy."

Fifth grade teacher Bob Dillon told the news conference he is taking early retirement, and the QEO is a major factor in his decision.

"I went into teaching to work with kids," he said. "I enjoyed and still enjoy working with the students."

Dillon, who has been a negotiator for more than 15 years, said Glendale teacher salaries have lost 3% to inflation just this year.

"Teachers at the top of the salary schedule receive the least, helping them to decide to retire early," he said. "Those coming up the schedule see their future salary severely limited and this then is a consideration in many of them leaving the profession."

Instructional resources teacher Joan Ebbens told reporters that the QEO has caused salary stagnation for Glendale teachers.

"For this reason, many experienced teachers who are leaders in our district have chosen to retire early," she said. "The district is losing leadership and experience sooner than necessary. Last year, our most experienced staff took a pay cut. The QEO puts great schools in jeopardy."

Ebbens applauded Doyle's efforts to repeal the QEO. "Our schoolchildren are losing their most valuable resource - their teachers," she said.

Music instructor Tim McCarthy told the news conference that Glendale teachers have "lost a minimum of 10% of their income compared to the cost of living" since the QEO became law.

McCarthy said teachers at the top of the salary schedule lost more than $800 to inflation just this year.

"The financial boom of the late 1990s benefited all sectors in our state except teachers," he said. "We are the only employee group who must live under the QEO."

"The QEO has had devastating results on the teachers of Wisconsin," says Glen Hills Middle School 6th-grade teacher Dick Best. He appears at a news conference with Governor Doyle, Superintendent Frances Smith and 5th-grade teacher Bob Dillon.

Resource page on the Qualified Economic Offer law

Posted May 21, 2003