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Schools

Is the Budget Repair Bill Pushing Teachers to Retirement?

The number of teachers retiring in 2011 skyrockets compared to previous years.

Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget repair bill drove educators to Madison, but is it driving teachers out of the Shorewood School District?

Shorewood's School Board has approved the retirement requests of 10 district teachers since the beginning of the school year. In comparison, four have retired since the 2009 school year, according to Business Manager Mark Boehlke.

Five of the teachers asked the board to approve their retirement after the introduction of the budget repair bill, which eliminates most collective bargaining for public workers, said Human Resources Coordinator Kim Grady.

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The district typically approves all retirements by December, Grady said, but after the repair bill was introduced to the Wisconsin Legislature in mid-February, some asked for the board to consider their late retirement requests. And the district expects the retirement pace to continue into next year, Boehlke said.

“Our School Board decided to honor the same retirement package for next year as well, so we might have quite a few retirees next year,” said Boehlke.

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He added the numbers might be skewed for the last couple years; with the state of the U.S. economy, teachers weren’t retiring. But Boehlke said the district seemed to return to its average of five retirements per year prior to budget repair bill.

School Board member Michael Mishlove said it’s obvious that the retirements are a result of the budget repair bill, while Board President Paul Zovic has said there is definitely a correlation, but not necessarily causation.

So, is the budget repair bill really to blame?

The Wisconsin Retirement System reports retirement requests have increased in the state nearly 135 percent compared to last year’s first quarter (Jan. 1 to March 1). WRS reports 3,662 retirement requests in February, but that number nearly doubled with 6,810 requests in March.

Shorewood school officials say their teacher contract has a retirement deadline of Nov. 15, but routinely approve retirement requests after the deadline. The School Board is required to approve at least five retirements before the deadline.

Nearby, the Whitefish Bay School District had only two staff members file for retirement by the district’s deadline, which came before Walker introduced the collective bargaining provisions in his budget repair bill. Nicolet High School reports five retirement requests.

But Shorewood teachers are split on their reasons for leaving.

Lynn Duvall, 60, has been teaching at various Shorewood schools since 1990 and is at Atwater Elementary. Her decision to leave her teaching career came after the bill was announced.

“Some people are referring to it as the Walker Walk, but I don’t like to look at it that way,” Duvall explained. “For me, personally, the idea to lose the right to collectively bargain was huge.”

Duvall said the governor’s proposed 2011-13 budget, which reduces state aid to schools by 5.5 percent while freezing the tax levy, is cause for concern.

“The fact that our governor is going to be cutting so much to our schools will make the job harder and harder,” she added.

Duvall was clear to point out the budget cuts are just one factor in decision to retire. Between her physical ailments and family commitments, she says she doesn’t need additional challenges.

“I’m the kind of teacher that wants to do the job that I know I can do,” Duvall explained, saying she’s more worried for the students than herself. 

“With the type of cuts that are potentially coming down the road, this seemed like the best time,” she said. “I’m tired now.

"My worry isn’t about my money, but for the students and the quality of education at our schools,” said Duvall, continuing to say she’s sad she’ll be away from her students.

However, she isn’t completely out of the system. Duvall is considering substitute teaching during retirement to offset the reduction her pension will face for retiring five years early.

Shorewood High teacher Mitch Ost, 57, has been teaching in the district for 32 years. He said he’ll be doing a lot of things after retirement, but substitute teaching isn’t one of them.

Ost said he made the decision to retire well before the bill was introduced. While he’s happy he made the decision to retire from a personal standpoint, he said he’s fearful for public education.

“I had actually made the decision well before any of this … the impact of Walker’s election,” Ost said. “There had been five people that had retired before the Nov. 15 deadline for early retirement. But there are five that have retired since they learned of the changes they anticipate happening to our contract.”

While both Duvall and Ost expressed resentment toward the budget repair bill, Donna Gruetzmacher, 63, said she thinks something needed to be done and the bill had no influence on her retirement.

“My retirement has been in the works for a year and half, so the bill doesn’t really matter to me because I was planning to do it anyway,” said Gruetzmacher, a teacher at Shorewood Intermediate School for the past 23 years.

Ost said he is optimistic about the possibility of Walker’s cuts being reversed as there are currently three lawsuits challenging the enactment of the legislation, filed in Dane County.

A case brought by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne resulted in a temporary restraining order barring the enactment of the law. Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen has asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take jurisdiction over the lawsuit.

Ozanne’s lawsuit is based on an allegation that the meeting that set in motion the adoption of the legislation by the Senate was not properly announced under the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

Ost said he is fearful the bill will make a career in teaching less appealing.

“I’m very thankful for the community I’ve worked for,” said Ost.  “Shorewood has really valued education. But I’m fearful program cuts and losses of teacher pay and benefits will make it difficult to make teaching a career.”

The district expects to save more than $300,000 next year in its operating budget as a result of staff turnover, as younger educators fill classrooms veteran teachers previously occupied. Zovic called the turnover a challenge to the system.

"It's both a loss and a gain," Zovic said. "The key as a district is, we don't want to lose all of this experience all at the same time."

Teachers retiring this year from Shorewood:

  • Anderson, Mary Kay
  • Bar-Lev, Candy
  • Duvall, Lynn
  • Eversfield, Pamela
  • Gelina, Louis
  • Gruetzmacher, Donna
  • Hustad, Connie
  • Keane, Alice
  • Moore, Kitty
  • Ost, Mitch
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