Stuck in neutral

BASD waits for guidance from state on teacher evaluation process

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff writer

With state law unclear and the Burlington Area School District still awaiting direction from the state on a teacher evaluation process, it could be a while before there is any clear indication on how Burlington Area School District pays its employees.

And, consequently, how it establishes its budget for next school year.

“The situation is that the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board has not yet offered guidelines – how they’re going to be interpreting this new law,” BASD School Board President David Thompson said Tuesday.

The evaluation process is only one piece of the puzzle right now for BASD, which is facing possible upheaval of the School Board with elections this spring, negotiations with the teachers union for this year’s contract and an uncertain financial picture.

Regardless, the starting point, according to Thompson, is that the board is required to only bargain base wage.

“At least, we think we know that,” Thompson said. “Right now, we don’t know how those wages are supposed to be distributed.”

For example, Thompson said, do districts go with an employee’s base wage – or a base wage for a group of employees, such as math teachers? Do they then give wage increases based on performance, or on time employed by the district?

Act 10 may have defined what labor unions could bargain for, but it also leaves a great deal of uncertainty on what school boards do in the vacuum left by the law.

Thompson also said the Department of Public Instruction is looking at ways of including teacher and student performance as part of the evaluation process.

“Well, it puts us in a very difficult position,” the board president said. “We have to make decisions, but put the cart before the horse.”

Thompson said the board is in the process of negotiating on base wages with the Burlington Education Association – for 2011-12, the current school year.

“Typically, we would’ve done things earlier,” Thompson said. “We’re now in a situation that they’re working without a contract.”

The BEA did offer the school district a chance to extend that contract last spring, but the School Board declined.

“The Act 10 information was still very unsettled,” Thompson said. “It made no sense to us to potentially tie the School Board’s hands by extending a contract.”

Of course, the School Board may still have its hands bound. In addition to the lack of clarity in the state evaluation process, a local conservative group fought tooth and nail this fall to prevent a tax levy increase.

When that failed, that same group vowed to get further involved in the budget process. As a result, a primary will be held Feb. 21 to cut a field of six candidates down to four for the April 3 general election.

The budget process normally begins in December at the local building level and moves to the School Board in March or April.

Add in the uncertainty with the negotiation of contracts and the yet-to-be determined evaluation process for teachers, and the potential for roadblocks skyrockets.

“Quite frankly, I think we’re starting to get used to it,” Thompson said. “Last year, we worked through an entire budget all the way up to the certification of the levy while we were still waiting on Act 10 and the court of appeals.

“It’s unfortunate that the budget process is somewhat backwards,” Thompson said. “It asks us to make projections on our spending before we even know what our revenue is going to be.”

Thompson stressed that the district expects to take a hit in state funding, up to a $2.5 million cut.

“And we’re a declining enrollment district,” Thompson said. “If we did nothing but left everything alone as it is today, just to maintain our own, we’d be looking at a 6-8 percent tax levy increase just to maintain things.”

Thompson said the board is going to have to work hard to find cost savings throughout the system. With the funding cut from the state, the district is left trying to cut expenditures and maintain programs.

“We’ll make tough decisions,” Thompson said. “Our job is to provide a quality education for the students in Burlington, and we will continue to do that.”

And should there be new members on the board this spring? Thompson expects a learning process.

“I think the learning curve will be steep and rapid and they will have a new appreciation for what has been done over the last 10 years,” he said.