Post Act 10, A Free Agency Culture of Education Emerges

Every sports fan has felt that bittersweet moment when their favorite athlete leaves the team they love for a new team offering a sweeter deal. For the athlete, it’s a new and more lucrative opportunity to use their unique skills and talents.

In a post-Act 10 educational environment in Wisconsin, the dynamic isn’t much different for educators. Teacher seniority and incremental pay scales have gone out the window and have been replaced by performance-based systems of employment. While Act 10 stripped the majority of bargaining rights from teachers, it also caused a major shift in the culture to which teachers have grown accustomed.

“Education may become like pro sports and the teacher could become a free agent in a sense. The opportunity is there,” said Kenneth Kasinksi, superintendent of the Ashland School District in rural Wisconsin.  “Now is the time for good teachers to go out there and toot their horns. The lower tiered teachers may have a tough time. If you are good at what you do, you’ll be fine.”

Prior to Act 10, teachers who had gained seniority were discouraged from switching districts by the resulting loss of seniority. Making a switch would place them on a lower rung than their counterparts at the new school, and leave them vulnerable to staffing changes. While seniority offered security for senior teachers, it was also a disincentive for less-tenured teachers to leave.

That disincentive is gone. Emphasis on teacher performance will be evaluated and incorporated into their jobs like no other time in Wisconsin's history. But at the same time, teachers have an opportunity to leverage their performance like no other time in the state's history.

“(Act 10) didn’t just give boards more flexibility, it gave individuals more flexibility as well,” said Menomonee Falls Superintendent Patricia Greco.

Today, there is increased pressure on district administrators to create the right environment to recruit and retain their best and brightest teachers. In a sense, the public education sector is now resembling the private sector in terms of incentivizing jobs for teachers. Even though Muskego has not seen an uptick in staff resignations, adminstrators are aware of the need to stay an attractive place to work.

"We provide many opportunities for staff input on district and school improvement teams, gauge staff satisfaction and engagement through annual surveys, conduct listen and learn sessions at each building that give staff voice and an opportunity to give input and afford staff opportunities to collaborate across grade levels, schools and district-wide," said Kelly Thompson, Muskego-Norway Superintendent.

She also included strong parent support of the organization as key to retaining teachers and positively impacting the learning environment. 

"Parents in Muskego-Norway value the educational experiences their children receive and share those feelings in annual surveys and through their positive interactions with staff," she said. "The PTOs are focused on building strong school communities and finding ways to meaningfully contribute to enhancing the learning environment for students."

She added that the school board has to apply strategy and balance to provide a  strong school system to the community, an environment that attracts, develops and retains high-impact staff while also providing a high-achieving student learning environment.

Thompson's comments echo those of other districts, which have to model themselves as corporations.

“You’ve got people who can function free-agent wise, so it’s going to be very competitive in the region,” Greco said. “Public sector or private sector. Employers of choice are the ones that build the structures that help employees grow, learn, stay engaged, respected, and fairly compensated.”

Greco's strategy to keep the highest quality teachers almost mirrors the strategy employed at Actuant Corporation in Menomonee Falls. Actuant is a $1.5 billion industrial company with operations in more than 30 countries. Actuant Global Talent Manager Margaret Reddick outlined the company’s recruiting and retaining credo, and many of the concepts outlined by Greco are replicated at Actuant.

“Retaining employees and building loyalty is about engagement.  Through the communication of our vision and goals, guiding values and leadership expectations employees have a clear understanding of the Actuant culture and how they fit into the organization as a whole,” Reddick said. “This, along with good communication practices, formal learning and development programs, and a commitment to our community creates an environment where employees feel empowered and engaged.”

The Tale of Two Cities

Although it’s still too early to tell what effect a new “free agent” teaching culture will have on education, it’s easy to see the competition will manifest itself in different ways depending on which part of the state a district is located.

In Menomonee Falls, the district is within the greater Milwaukee metro region. The pool of potential candidates is large — some 600 applicants apply for a single job — but the concentration of competing districts is also dense. Drive in any direction in the metro area and you are bound to pass through 10 to 15 different school districts.

“You’ve got a situation where individuals will be positioned to be very competitive in population dense regions,” Greco said. “You don’t have to relocate your family, you can market off your skills and ability, and you’ll have the data to prove you can generate growth.”

In the past year, Falls lost one teacher whose decision to leave was lateral and based on better incentives from a new district. But administrators believe that’s a trend that will continue to grow as the culture shifts over time.

However, the competitive dynamic is a bit different in rural districts in Wisconsin. For Kasinksi — up in Ashland — it’s always been a challenge to recruit high quality teachers to that part of the state, which lacks many of the amenities present in a metro area. His task is even more difficult after Act 10.

“The difference has always been there for rural school districts, one of the largest factors we have to look for is someone who wants to live in this area first of all,” Kasinski said. “In some high need areas like special education, math, science and technology we offer incentives to those teachers. It’s usually salary based, but we also provide relocation assistance.”

Kasinksi said there’s a lot of pressure on school administrators to ensure their schools are continuing to make progress – and that begins with teachers. He said recruiting a great teacher from another district is not out of the question anymore.

“I’d be starting to look for the top literacy, math, and science teachers. Those are the people I would be going after,” Kasinksi said. “But once you get that high-performing teacher on staff you make that analogy back to the sports world. They better perform and perform consistently. The pressure will really be ramped up for students and teachers to make sure we are performing.”

Is it Good For Education?

The million-dollar question remains, “Is this good for education?”

It may be too early to tell, but Kasinski believes the competitive element in education will up the pressure on administrators, teachers, students, and the community.

“We’ll have to see how it all shakes out. There’s going to be increased pressure on students and teachers to perform. The real question is just how much pressure is going to be placed on people? It’s a period of transition, and we need to transition and transition with a level of moderation. You can’t swing the pendulum too far in either direction.”

For Greco, the new educational environment is a crucial time for school leaders around the state to step forward and amplify their role and articulate their vision. In competitive times, leadership is in high demand.

“How you define yourself as an individual and as a collective is key. We have a lot more accountability and we have a a lot more ability now. That’s a good thing,” Greco said. “But being the type of leader that people want to work with is crucial.”