While it's far from a pay cut or pay freeze, Verona teachers, principals and other administrators last week agreed to smaller-than-average increases in salary and benefits over the next two years.
That will erase many of the budget cuts schools were set to make this month.
Some details still need to be ironed out, but Verona's 420 teachers have agreed to a total 3.8 percent increase in salaries and benefits next school year and 4.2 percent increases in 2010-11. That's less than the average 4.8 percent increases over the past four years, said district human resources director Jason Olson.
That difference will save the district about $331,000 next year, Olson said.
Likewise, the district will save about $65,000 on district administrative staff and another $30,000 on non-union support staff because both groups accepted 2.9 percent increases in salaries and benefits next year, Olson said. A separate contract with union support staff is expected to be ratified next week.
A speedy round of negotiations wrapped up last Thursday when the Verona Area school board voted 6-1 to accept the deal with the teachers' union, the Verona Area Education Association.
The deal shows teachers' "desire to cooperate with the board of education in negotiating a fair settlement while preventing budget cuts that would lessen the quality of education our children receive," VAEA president Dave Wallace said in a statement issued Monday.
School board President Tom Duerst cast the lone vote against the deal. Given the down economy and the gloomy state budget picture, Duerst said he would have liked teachers to accept 3.8 percent raises for each of the next two years.
"There were a lot of good things in the deal; I just didn't think that under the current economic environment that it went far enough," he said. "I thought the taxpayers deserved that second 3.8 (percent)."
But Wallace noted that Dane County's economy hasn't plunged as steeply as it has elsewhere, and that further undercutting teacher pay would do Verona schools a disservice.
"If we don't make sure we're paying our teachers well, then they are going to go to other industries," Wallace said in an interview. "(Verona) families are used to top-quality teachers and staff. Frankly, if you nibble away at benefit packages, you're going to lose the best and brightest to other districts and other states."
The agreement came only a month after the district and teachers' union exchanged initial proposals, making this the quickest round of negotiations in memory, said Ken Behnke, school board member since 1995.
The timing was no accident. This month, site councils at each school are finalizing their budgets for next year. The district has until May 1 to issue any layoff notices.
In all, the lower-than-expected raises offset $427,560 of a total $1.1 million shortfall projected for the 2009-10 school year. Even with the change, however, five schools will need to make cuts next year, though they won't be as steep as the schools had been bracing for.
The remainder of the $1.1 million shortfall is coming from a roughly $240,000 reduction in reserve funds and about $320,000 from cuts to maintenance staff, contingency funds and district-wide programming for special education and students whose first language is not English.
"It's a help, but it's obviously not a complete fix," said Wallace, who lays blame with the state's funding formula for schools.
This round of negotiations was unprecedented in Verona, as teachers agreed to total compensation increases before deciding exactly how much salaries and benefits will separately increase.
On that note, teachers still have a big decision to make. They'll meet in late April to consider changing health-care providers - for the third consecutive two-year contract - as a cost-saving measure, Wallace said.
"There's a lot to be decided on that," he said.
While most unions in Wisconsin haven't settled contracts yet this year, Verona teachers' settlement could anticipate a statewide trend, said Robert Butler, co-director of employment and labor law services with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. Given the poor economy, ailing state budget and signs of deflation, "I would anticipate we will see a lower settlement pattern than in prior years," Butler said.
Verona teachers' salaries rank in the top one-third of Dane County and Big Eight Conference schools, Olson said.
Cuts won't be so deep
Last week's union agreement will help Verona avoid many of the budget cuts the school district had expected to make in the 2009-10 school year. Here's a look at the changes at each school.
Projected budget cuts (adds)
School / pre-contract / post-contract
Elementary schools
Country View / +9,000 / +62,500
Glacier Edge / +134,000 / +169,500
Stoner Prairie / -60,000 / -22,000
Sugar Creek / +78,500 / +118,500
Core Knowledge (K-5) / -61,000 / -38,000
New Century / -21,000 / -11,500
Middle schools
Badger Ridge / 33,500 / 76,500
Savanna Oaks / -113,000 / -70,500
Core Knowledge (6-8) / 0 / +13,000
VAHS / -225,000 / -95,000
Total gain: 427,560
VR Lower-than-average raises to take sting out of cuts
