Flat-lining — Base Wages and the MMSD Budget
The 2019-20 Madison Metropolitan School District budget has — to this point — been built in such a way that employee spending power (wages adjusted for inflation) will remain flat (except for those who advance via educational or credential changes). MTI has an action alert on this, for the Monday May 20th meeting, and beyond. At a time when the challenges are great, the morale low,the related difficulties in attracting and retaining staff well-documented, this adds injury to insults.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the budget narrative includes misdirections, in attempts to confuse the issues. The key passages are here (on page 16 under “Budget Goals and Guiding Principles” — Goals and Principles the Board never voted on, because the MMSD Board rarely votes on anything involving the budget until 90%+ has been decided by the administration, with easily ignored “feedback” but not decision-making from Board):
Provide total compensation (steps + base wage) to employees equal to or greater than final CPI-U/COLA @ 2.44%
And here, on page 25:
In total with what is reserved in the budget, the average employee with a 2.5% total compensation increase will receive total take home pay slightly above the CPI-u index.
A little background and explanation. Scott Walker’s Act 10, among other things limited public sector collective bargaining agreements (CBAs or union contracts) to maximum base wage increases equal to the consumer price index changes CONTINUE READING: Flat-lining — Base Wages and the MMSD Budget | AMPS