The proposed budget for the 2021-2022 school year does not include funding to raise the salaries of teachers as they receive higher education and gain more experience. In the past, teachers who receive higher education for their teaching careers (like a master’s degree), and who spend more years in the district have subsequently received increases in their salaries. This transparent salary model is referred to as a “steps and lanes” model. “Steps” represent experience, and “lanes” represent levels of education a teacher has received. This model makes Shorewood teacher salaries more competitive.

“Should [a Shorewood student] want to be a teacher here in Shorewood, I want to make sure that [they] don’t come to the district and never have the opportunity to earn a professional wage, to make a salary that would allow [them] to buy a house in Shorewood,” said Sachin Pandya, fifth and sixth grade teacher at Lake Bluff and chief negotiator for the Shorewood Education Association. “What [steps and lanes] provides is a transparent structure for [a teacher’s] salary growth.”

Each year, a percentage is calculated which becomes the across-the-board raise for all school district employees. The percentage increase aims to keep up with inflation and increasing costs of living. This year, that percentage is 1.23 percent. 

In past years, in addition to their certain percent of salary increase, there would be a separate sum of money to fund steps and/or lanes. However, this year, the district has not included that funding in the proposed budget due to state-level budget cuts and increased pandemic-related costs.

There has been significant pressure on the school board from both the Shorewood Education Association (SEA) — the formal name for the Shorewood teachers union — and teachers across the district to include this funding in the budget. While a similar plan was proposed and then withdrawn in 2020, so far this year, the district’s decision has not changed.

“The state essentially has given us less money than we assumed they would, both in terms of Special Ed reimbursement and also in per-pupil funding,” said Paru Shah, school board president. “Our enrollment numbers have gone down slightly, and some of our costs due to COVID have gone up… We are now in a position where it’s unclear at this point whether or not we’re going to be able to [fund it].”

Due to the decreased amount of state funding, the district wants to make sure that the budget created this year can be sustained in the future. The state budget is determined every two years, so continuing to fund steps and lanes this year would mean it would continue next year, something the administration is not sure they have a sufficient amount of money to guarantee.

“I want to make sure that we go through the budget carefully and know what’s going to be workable, not just for this year, but also going forward,” said Heather Heaviland, Shorewood Director of Business Services.

The decision to not include funding for steps and lanes was announced in August of this year. However, at the start of the budget process in March 2021, it was assumed by the SEA that money would be allocated at least for lanes in the budget. The SEA agreed on the 1.23 percent salary increase with this assumption. 

“Communication last spring and over the summer from district administrators made it clear that the budget included funds for the full cost of living increase as well as education increases for staff who completed approved credits,” read a statement by Pandya to the school board on September 14. “When we sat down in August to begin negotiations, we were notified that funds were not budgeted for education increases and that they would have to be pulled from our cost of living increase.”

“It’s not that there was any sort of communication between the board and SEA on how we could work through this or find creative solutions,” said Jason Lowery, building representative for the SEA and Spanish teacher at SHS.

While funds for lanes could be freed up by taking money from the annual 1.23 percent salary increase, this move is deeply unpopular among teachers.

“The negotiated cost of living increase merely allows the overall schedule to keep pace with inflation — that money is not used to fund salary progression through the system,” Pandya’s statement read. “This has been true for as long as we can remember. The funds for progression need to be allocated by the district, not pulled from our cost of living increase.”

This issue is further complicated by Act 10, a Wisconsin law passed in 2011. This law prohibits teachers unions and districts from negotiating additional compensation, such as steps and lanes, causing many districts to defund their steps and lanes programs. Shorewood is one of the last districts in the state to continue to use this salary model.

“When a lot of these other districts did away with their salary system, teachers didn’t know what they were going to necessarily be able to make in the future and how they would grow their career in that district. So a lot of folks actually tried to come to Shorewood,” Pandya said.

While the steps and lanes system is recognized as a way to attract new experienced teachers, some see it as a way to retain current staff as well. Without the transparent salary schedule in place, teacher turnover could increase. Many teachers insist that steps and lanes help to retain experienced teachers, but Shah disagrees.

“If you look at… reasons why teachers leave our district, it is rarely because of salary. It’s for a variety of things,” Shah said. “We are in the top 33 percent in terms of teacher compensation and benefits in the state, so I think that there are other ways in which we demonstrate how much we value our teachers in this district.”

In addition to possibly impacting teacher retention, the decision will also impact teachers who are currently obtaining higher education as they won’t see the expected salary increase for completing their degrees. In May of each year, teachers receive and sign contracts agreeing on their salary for the upcoming school year. In May of 2021, when teachers signed this contract, the salary they agreed on reflected moving over a lane if they had received higher education. This school year, however, teachers received notice that this commitment would not be upheld.

“[These teachers] invested thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars, and [an] unquantifiable number of minutes in their continuing education with the idea that not only would their further education benefit the district and its students, but that they would be financially compensated for that,” Lowery said. “People in that position [might] feel caught off guard and disrespected, and they might feel like they need to start thinking about a future beyond the Shorewood School District, where there would be more of an idea of how they might advance as educators in terms of their monetary compensation.”

While teachers and community members insist on continuing the steps and lanes program, the board’s proposed budget has not altered. Shah and the school board recognize that this decision was difficult to make, and they are still committed to offering teachers solid wages within the constraints of the budget they have.

“At this point, it’s true that we want to fully fund teachers and all staff members to the best of our ability, that we take it seriously, that we want to offer competitive wages and retain the best teachers,” Shah said. “And at the same time, it is true that we are limited in our funding, so hard decisions have to be made.”

As this story is still developing, there are many details that have yet to be seen. Check back for possible updates.