Shorewood Funds Teacher Raises But Budget Concerns Not Over

SHOREWOOD, WI — The Shorewood Board of Education voted 4-1 Tuesday to maintain funding for staff raises beyond what was originally drafted into the 2022 budget, but with the vote, other parts of staff raises will go unfunded.

The vote came after months of disapproval from the Shorewood Education Association at the Board's prospect of freezing steps and lanes funding. Members of the public showed up to Board of Education meetings through October to voice support for the education association.

The resulting budget that was approved Tuesday will largely continue funding for the steps and lanes model of teacher salary schedules — a model that has been touted by many Shorewood teachers in public comment as equitable, transparent, and one reason why Shorewood excels —But with the funding, the district's budget comes closer to different, deeper cuts.

By June next year, the decision is projected to bring the district's fund balance to lower than 10 percent of expenses, 9.9 percent, against Shorewood Board of Education policy. The fund balance, a measure of a district's assets stacked against its liabilities, can impact a district's cash flow and spending.

In Facebook posts, the Shorewood Education Association wrote "steps and lanes provide Shorewood educators with the opportunity to plan for their futures. Educators are able to build sustainable careers in Shorewood. Our ability to attract and retain high-quality teaching staff is compromised without the predictable, bias-free pay system that compensates educators for their experience and education."

Shorewood's status as a "destination district" would be compromised with deep steps and lanes cuts, SEA said.

"Our salary system, which funds teachers’ salary progression for experience and education, is a key pillar in achieving the district’s goal of attracting and retaining a diverse and talented staff of professional educators," the association posted on Facebook.

After SEA raised their concerns about the possibility of the district freezing steps and lanes, two alternatives to the budget were drafted and discussed in the meeting on Oct. 26. A video SEA posted to Facebook ahead of the Tuesday meeting shows people with signs of support.

A summary of those budget alternatives said the goal with the proposed budget was to provide a modest increase and recognize the commitment to teacher lane changes without making drastic changes necessary to continue operations.

The Board chose option A, to increase spending from the initial budget by $79,230. Less than SEA asked for, but more than the original budget.

With option A, staff would receive a 1.23 percent salary increase. Teachers get a half step and all lanes will be honored.

Other staff such as custodians and teacher aides do not get steps and lanes. They would receive an additional .46 percent increase.

Option B would have more fully funded teacher and staff raises, but it would have also cost $200,000 more.

Shorewood has the lowest fund balance compared to nearby school districts such as Nicolet and Whitefish Bay. Paying more for raises and further lowering that balance may limit the district's options for short-term borrowing and it may tie hands for even harder decisions down the road, the presentation to the Board on the alternative proposals said.

With the decision, board members had to weigh the raises of the district's staff against the probability of future program cuts.

"I feel like there's a level of community trust that would be broken if we don't do this this year, but I'm not going to pretend that we're not going to have hard decisions to make," Shorewood Board of Education Treasurer Emily Berry said in the meeting Tuesday ahead of the vote. "I think a bottom-line way to think about this is we can keep steps and lanes this year and CPI, but we should also be really prepared for positions to be eliminated and potential programs to be eliminated,"

Berry said if the board went with option B, "some people that work in our district today may not have that job next year."

Budgetary problems with steps and lanes stem from enrollment and the pandemic. Shorewood School District, like many others in Wisconsin, has faced stark enrollment drops. Since 2018, Shorewood has lost hundreds of students, and with that, portions of state funding.

This wouldn't be the first time budgetary concerns have brought pauses to teacher raises. During the meeting Tuesday, Board of Education Clerk Pablo Muirhead recalled a time in the late '90s when his steps and lanes were frozen as a teacher in the district.

"I got locked into my little cell, I was a first-year teacher for two years in a row," Muirhead said about missing the salary increases.

Board members described the funding measures as a temporary compromise, and that the budget is only expected to get tighter in the coming years. At one point in the meeting, Muirhead recalled when language arts and librarians faced cuts in the district.

Board President Paru Shah commented at a different point in the meeting that when programs are cut, they usually don't come back.

"Words of both operate and maintain really resonate with me as we think about the task that the board is considering tonight," Shorewood Superintendent JoAnn Sternke said in the meeting."How will we create an operational budget that is sustainable and maintain the quality we want in our district?"

"No doubt we do that by valuing people. There is no other way in many ways to do that, I look at that and I think about the desire that people are speaking tonight have for a predictable system and I say how difficult it is to have a predictable system for compensation when we are such a wildly unpredictable funding environment. It is a challenge," Sternke said.

"I want to do everything, I don't think what the teachers are asking for is enough. I think they deserve more than the CPI increase, but we have some limitations," Muirhead said.

Berry said administrators should examine the District's workforce and pursue an examination of models that could be predictable and equitable, as the SEA has hoped for.

"Maybe steps and lanes, maybe a different model, but we need to have the conversation," she said.

By Wisconsin law, the Board's decision is due by Nov. 1. It was approved on Oct. 26.

"We stand ready to work with the board and anyone who wants to collaborate on solutions. I want to be in a better place at the end of this school year," Sternke said. "We really tried our very best to create a budget that is sustainable in operations as well as maintenance of this great district."