School District Won't Issue Layoff Notices Anytime Soon

While school districts across the state scramble to issue preliminary layoff notices to teachers and other staff, the Whitefish Bay School District is holding off on taking any such action.

Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday will unveil his 2011-13 state budget that is expected to include significant cuts in funding for local schools. The Wisconsin Association of School Boards, in anticipation of the cuts and the likely passage of Walker's budget repair bill, is urging districts to issue preliminary layoffs by Monday. If the budget repair bill passes in its current form, Monday could be the latest date the districts could issue preliminary layoff notices, the group said.

Whitefish Bay currently has a settled teachers contract for 2009-2011, but not 2011-2012. Superintendent Mary Gavigan said the district entered into an agreement with the Whitefish Bay Education Association Friday that upholds the language in the existing collective bargaining agreements through the end of the spring.

“Given the questions of uncertainty within the governor’s repair bill, the district has entered into an understanding with the WBEA thereby allowing the district to continue to plan in a very intentional manner as we move into the spring of the year and avoid issuing preliminary nonrenewal notices to staff on Monday,” she said.

Collective bargaining rights of teachers and other public employees are currently up in the air until the state Senate votes on Walker’s proposed budget repair bill. The district and union reached the memorandum as a precautionary legal measure, given the uncertainty of what the end of collective bargaining would mean.

“If collective bargaining were in fact to end moving forward in the 2011-2012 school year, what the (agreement) simply provides is that during the remaining months we can abide by the terms that we previously agreed to and can be found in the 2009-2011 contract," Gavigan said. “This allows us to continue planning in a thoughtful and intentional manner rather than issuing massive notices of preliminary nonrenewal.”

Gavigan said the district may still lay off teachers later in the year. Current teacher contracts contain a layoff notification date of April 15.

Because Walker has not yet released his biennial budget, Gavigan said the district will hold off on any budgetary decisions until more solid, reliable information is available. 

“When we have good information, we will develop a responsible budget with responsible staffing using the existing timelines that exist within the collective bargaining agreement,” she said.