By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The negotiations on teacher wages between the Burlington Area School District and the teacher’s union – the Burlington Education Association – took a twist Monday.
The two groups met to exchange proposals for the 2014-15 wage schedule, but without the 2013-14 wage scale approved.
BASD Superintendent Peter Smet confirmed the situation Tuesday afternoon, and said the 2013-14 offer from the district is the original proposal – which indicates a flat rate increase across the board.
The same is proposed by the district for the 2014-15 school year, with a 1.46 percent increase.
“We are in negotiations on two open years,” Smet said.
The BEA, meanwhile, has said in its proposal that the 2013-14 board offer will be accepted by the union if the board accepts the 2014-15 offer by the BEA.
The BEA offer stipulates that all teachers will make a step advancement in 2014-15, with teachers with a bachelor of the arts degree, a BA plus 15 credits, a masters, a masters plus 12 credits, a masters plus 24 credits and a masters plus 36 credits will increase 1.46 percent.
“What we proposed the last time – and I think this was something both sides really wanted – was a path to move over and down,” said Bill Berkholtz, the head of the BEA. That movement would put into place the old “lanes” movement on the pay schedule to account for increased education by teachers.
Lane and step movements would then alternate on a yearly basis, with the only cell change being in the masters plus 36 credits cell – which would increase by the Consumer Price Index as certified by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
“It’s a way to move people through the salary schedule the way it used to be,” Berkholtz said, though he added that it wouldn’t be as quickly as it used to be. “They obviously want to attract good, young teachers that will stay.
“We want people to be rewarded for working hard, working to get better.”
Berkholtz said that the 2013-14 offer from the district turned out to be about half the CPI on actual wages for that year.
“We want to see the offer this year is based on actual wages,” Berkholtz said.
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