Ecae, School Board Stand Together Against Qeo, Revenue Caps

Jo Burke (left), president of the Eau Claire Association of Educators, and School Board President Carol Olson sign a joint resolution opposing the QEO law and school district revenue caps, as ECAE members and others look on.

The Eau Claire Association of Educators and the Eau Claire School Board signed a historic joint resolution Monday (May 7, 2002) calling for an end to the state-imposed Qualified Economic Offer law and school district revenue caps.

In a joint resolution, they said these laws have compromised the district's ability to provide students with classrooms that work and to recruit and retain quality staff.

Eau Claire is one of nearly 300 school districts still without a settled contract for 2001-03.

The resolution states:

"Whereas we recognize that revenue controls restrict local control and the ability of school boards and teachers to provide for quality education of students, and that the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) bargaining law further restricts the manner in which the board can compensate professional educators, we hereby stand together in opposition to the continuation of Wisconsin revenue controls as well as the QEO bargaining law. We further believe the state should stand behind its commitment of two-thirds funding for education."

ECAE President Jo Burke said the resolution was the first of its kind in the state and she hopes other districts follow suit. She said one of the central issues is local control.

"Our community, school board and teachers should have the power to decide what's best for our kids … yet our legislators passed these negative restrictions over nine years ago, requiring our district to cut about $1 million each year, and restricting our teachers to salary increases below the cost of living. That simply limits local control, not to mention compromising the ability to provide for great schools and classrooms that work for kids," she said.

Burke said that without the ability to retain strong, quality educators, prospective teachers are heading to Minnesota, Florida, California and other states that lure them away from their homes.

"When graduates in the field of education earn $18,000 less than their peers with comparable degrees, money does talk," she said. "It tells them that they won't be respected or compensated the way professionals in other fields will."

Burke said the QEO law – which severely limits teachers' ability to bargain a fair contract – and revenue controls "challenge our ability to have great schools."

"What was once an attempt to control taxes has long ago run its course," she said.

Burke said the fact that the school board is willing to sign this document "reflects the collaboration and problem-solving that we try to model for our kids … so that we can continue to provide great schools and classrooms that work."

The school board moved to sign the resolution at its Monday night meeting, and the presidents of both groups joined to sign the document. Copies of the resolution will be sent to legislators across the state as well as to the governor.

Resource page on the Qualified Economic Offer law
Resource page on school district revenue controls

Posted May 7, 2002