In Lieu Of Salary Increase, School District Will Reimburse Teachers' Tuition

The Oak Creek-Franklin School District has decided to reimburse at least a portion of tuition expenses for teachers who recently completed graduate-level credits.

The reimbursements are instead of raises, which traditionally have been given to Oak Creek teachers and have helped pay off their student-loan debt.

School administrators have said the district lacks the money this year to give the normal wage increase for master's degrees, but the School Board wanted to provide some compensation for teachers who took classes expecting their salary would go up as a result, Superintendent Sara Burmeister said.

The reimbursements will be given to employees who enrolled in classes last fall and in the past spring, prior to Gov. Scott Walker introducing his budget-repair bill that slashed state aid and put severe limits on collective-bargainning, Burmeister said.

The school district will budget $135,000 for tuition reimbursement. Officials came to that number based on recent history of graduate-level credits that teachers have earned.

, teachers argued that raises were not only important to help pay off debt they incurred, but also so teachers continue to pursue master's degrees and share their new knowledge in the classroom.

High school teacher Kristen Lauer told board members Monday that it was a difficult decision when she and her husband, fellow high school teacher Anthony Lauer, decided to take out a loan so that Anthony could go forward with a $36,000 degree program.

"I've worked hard to maintain my integrity with my students, and I hope they appreciate that I follow through when I promise to do something," she said prior to the vote. "Similarly, I hope that you vote to maintain your integrity this evening when you vote on teacher salary and credit recognition for the 2011-2012 school year."

Though the step-increase for master's degrees is gone, teachers will likely still get a salary increase. According to budget projections, administrators estimate that Oak Creek-Franklin employees will receive a 1.6 percent increase in hourly wages/annual salaries.

Layoff policy

The board last night also unanimously approved several new policies, including one on layoffs.

The policy takes into account seniority, qualifications, past performance and staff balance.  it will unfairly punish those with more seniority - as they are the highest paid - but district administrators said seniority is only one of multiple factors that would go into reductions.

At this point, Oak Creek-Franklin is not planning layoffs prior to the 2011-12 school year.