Law & Courts

Lawsuit Says Teacher Contracts Violate Wisconsin Policy

By Stephen Sawchuk — September 16, 2014 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Three years after a deeply polarizing Wisconsin law restricted public employees’ bargaining rights, fallout from the act continues to affect the state’s districts and teachers’ unions.

In the latest example, Madison school officials face a lawsuit filed in state court alleging that they violated the terms of Act 10 by inking two recent teachers’ contracts containing changes to teacher-assignment practices, benefits, and other working conditions.

The law, championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, barred public employers from negotiating anything other than minimal salary increases.

But the district and its union did just that with contracts covering the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years—and those contracts should be overturned, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty alleged in a lawsuit filed last week.

The institute alleges that the Madison school board, the district, and its teachers’ union began negotiations for a new 2014-15 contract in September 2013 and ratified it in October despite those restrictions. What’s more, they began negotiating a deal for the 2015-16 school year this past May and ratified it in June.

Both deals go beyond base wage changes to include working conditions, teacher assignments, fringe benefits, tenure, and union-dues deductions, the lawsuit says.

It contends that taxpayers will be irreparably harmed if the contracts are allowed to stand because they would incur the costs of negotiations, paid leave, and stipends agreed to in the new pacts. It asks the Dane County District Court to invalidate the contracts and issue an injunction blocking them from being enforced.

“The board and the school district unlawfully spent taxpayer funds” in negotiating the contracts, and will spend yet more in implementing them, the lawsuit states. “The [contracts] violate the public policy of Wisconsin.”

Legal Wrinkles

One of the gray areas concerns the legal landscape surrounding Act 10, which was not quite settled when the contracts were negotiated.

Two federal courts and one state court had upheld the act’s constitutionality as of May. But Dane County District Court Judge Juan Colas had ruled in September 2012 that sections of Act 10 were unconstitutional.

While that case cranked through the appeals process, the Madison district and its teachers’ union went ahead with negotiations. Indeed, in a June letter outlining the substance of the newest contract, an official of the National Education Association-affiliated Madison Teachers Inc. wrote that Judge Colas’ decision enabled the new agreements.

“These are rights which are sadly no longer guaranteed to any other education employee in Wisconsin,” Executive Director John Matthews says in the letter.

In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution did not include the right to collective bargaining for public employees, effectively overturning Judge Colas’ ruling.

The district late last week said it had not yet received any notification of the suit and could not comment without reviewing it.

Union Defends Actions

In a statement, Mr. Matthews defended the contracts and the negotiations that led up to them. He said that talking with employees is an “enlightened” way of learning about their concerns and how operations can improve.

“What the governor has failed to recognize in his severe restriction on public employee wages and benefits is the restricted standard of living of these employees, the negative impact it has not only on their families, but also on the communities in which they reside—they no longer have the disposable income to enable the purchase of homes, home goods, clothing, automobiles, and the like,” Mr. Matthews continued.

He called the lawsuit “a waste of money and unnecessary stress on district employees and the community” and went on to say that “there was nothing improper or illegal” about the negotiations.

Whatever the court decides, bargained contracts are rare in today’s Wisconsin school districts. Just one other district, Sauk Prairie, has an agreement, the union said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, who sits on the Madison school board, was not named as an individual defendant in the lawsuit.

Wisconsin’s two teachers’ unions have, in the meantime, lost thousands of members in the wake of Act 10. They have taken steps to merge, a feat that would make Wisconsin the sixth state to have combined NEA and American Federation of Teachers membership. But a vote to that end was delayed until early 2015 while committees try to reconcile the unions’ differing dues structures.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

A version of this article appeared in the September 17, 2014 edition of Education Week as Lawsuit Claims Teacher Contracts Violate Wis. State Policy

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Appeals Court Blocks District Policy That Requires Students to 'Respect' Gender Identity
The federal appeals court panel holds that the policy is likely unconstitutionally vague under the First Amendment.
4 min read
A poster is held at the Iowa Queer Student Alliance "We say gay" rally inside the Iowa State Capitol on March 8, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Iowa Queer Student Alliance holds a "We say gay" rally inside the Iowa State Capitol on March 8, 2023, in Des Moines. The legislature passed a bill last spring that prohibits school districts from providing false or misleading information to parents regarding their children's gender identity. A federal appeals court ruled that the new law made parts of a lawsuit against the Linn-Mar Community School District's policy moot, though the court revived a challenge to one part of the policy.
Margaret Kispert/The Des Moines Register via AP
Law & Courts School Districts Are Poised For a $23 Million Payout in New Opioid Settlement
If the settlement is approved, school districts will be able to apply for grants to address the effects of opioids on their students and staff.
4 min read
Sa Thao signs the 2022 Mobile Recovery National Bus during a stop at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. Across the country, people in recovery and relatives of those killed by opioid overdoses are pressing for roles in determining how billions in opioid settlement money will be used. That push is one of the missions of the monthlong nationwide bus tour. Thao was addicted to methamphetamine but through recovery programs has been clean for 18 months.
Sa Thao signs the 2022 Mobile Recovery National Bus during a stop at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. Across the country, people in recovery and relatives of those killed by opioid overdoses are pressing for roles in determining how billions in opioid settlement money will be used.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Law & Courts In New Term, Supreme Court Set to Tackle Case on School Board Members' Social Media Use
The docket for education cases looks more modest than last term, but cases on magnet schools and transgender students could be added.
11 min read
The Supreme Court is seen in Washington on Sept. 25, 2023. The new term of the high court begins Oct. 2, 2023.
The Supreme Court is seen in Washington on Sept. 25, 2023. The new term of the high court begins Oct. 2, 2023.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Law & Courts Football Coach Who Won Supreme Court Prayer Case Has Resigned
The coach waged a seven-year legal battle to be rehired.
2 min read
FILE - Bremerton High School assistant coach Joe Kennedy takes a knee and prays at the 50-yard line after Bremerton's win over Mount Douglas in a high school football game at Bremerton Memorial Stadium in Bremerton, Wash., on Sept. 1, 2023. Kennedy, the praying football coach who had a long legal battle to get his job back, resigned Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, after his first game back on the job. He cited multiple reasons for his resignation including taking care of an ailing family member out of state. (Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun via AP, File)