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| Educational Support Professionals |
It's About Time! Governor's Budget Addresses Retirement For Educational Support Professionals For years, educational support professionals have gotten shortchanged by the Wisconsin Retirement System. While teachers and administrators receive a year's credit for each school year worked, support professionals receive credit for only the school year. Governor Doyle's 2007-09 state budget plan would change state law so that educational support professionals in Wisconsin's public schools would be treated like teachers and administrators for purposes of determining years of service under the Wisconsin Retirement System. Educational support professional includes secretaries, educational assistants, custodians, bus drivers, food service staff. |
| Under current state law, to become covered under the WRS, an individual must work at least one-third of full-time employment. For educational support professional, 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 teachers, librarians, and administrators, the Department defines full-time employment as 1,320 per year and one-third employment as 440 hours per year. |
This difference in calculating creditable service toward retirement has the effect of requiring educational support professional to work longer than other publice education employees before reaching eligibility for WRS contributions. The Governor's budget would require that educational support professionals, teachers, librarians, and administrators are treated the same in terms of qualifying for coverage under the WRS, with full-time employment for educational support professionals set at 1,320 hours per year. |
| If schools are to maintain the highest quality, it is important to treat educational support professionals like teachers for retirement purposes. This improvement will provide an incentive for educational support professional to stay in public schools for their entire careers, maintaining overall quality and experience among staff. Governor Doyle's proposal to treat educational support professional and teacher service the same under WRS is commendable. |