For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Today we are announcing a tentative settlement in negotiations for a new two-year contract between the Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison Teachers Incorporated. This settlement is for 3 units: teachers, clerical and technical unit, and educational assistants.
I strongly commend MTI for stepping forward and negotiating a contract that recognizes the significant burden that the current state budget crisis places on all of our citizens. This comes at a time when ten years of revenue caps limit what we can do, so significantly, that we have set a referendum to provide the community a choice about the future quality of our school district. All of our staff deserve more than we are able to pay. They are responsible for the development of our most important resource - our children.
These are difficult times and MTI's members have made significant sacrifices in these negotiations to assist the community in maintaining the school district's quality. Our staff are all taxpayers too and will share with the community the other impacts of balancing the state budget. By their actions during these negotiations, the members of Madison Teachers Inc. have shown that they truly care for the future of this community and its children as well as their members.
The settlement calls for a 1% base raise for the teachers unit in each of the next 2 years. The base increase was accomplished through a major restructuring of health benefits.
Because of MTI's willingness to restructure the health benefits, we are also announcing today that the amount of funding needed will be at most $9.6 million rather than the $12.3 million that will be listed on the June 3 referendum ballot. It's too late to change the actual wording on the referendum, so it will still read "up to $12.3 million" but we are saying today that the district will expend a maximum of $9.6 million of that.
Public Information Office
545 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53703
608-663-1879
email: newsrelease@madison.k12.wi.us
Last Modified: 2003-04-22
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