Appleton the latest school district to use Walker’s law to balance budget

Without collective bargaining, school boards have power to cut labor costs

      There’s no question that Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair legislation is working wonders for Wisconsin public schools.

      Over the last few weeks we’ve heard that two school districts – Kaukauna and Fond du Lac – managed to go from potential deficit situations to balanced budgets by employing the new law. By simply collecting more from employees toward health care and pension costs (as prescribed by the law), they were able to overcome painful but necessary cuts in state funding.

      Now another district – Appleton – is reporting the same news. Increased health and pension contributions from employees were key factors, according to the Appleton Post-Crescent. The district also received lower insurance rates from WEA Trust, an insurance company with close ties to the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

      The budget repair law took insurance off the collective bargaining table, meaning the union could no longer insist on WEA Trust coverage at an inflated price. As a result there is more competition in the school insurance market, which forced WEA Trust to lower its bid in Appleton.  

      Before the new law was proposed, hundreds of school districts were struggling with their budgets, partly because local teachers unions refused to make contract concessions. Now school boards are free to cut labor costs without union consent, and the results are extremely positive for students, families and taxpayers.  

      Unfortunately some districts are still languishing under the terms of long-term union collective bargaining agreements. That means their boards are not yet allowed to control runaway labor costs without union consent. A prime example is Milwaukee, where the union recently declined to allow teachers to make a larger contribution toward their pensions. As a result hundreds of teachers will be laid off.

      We hope the people of Wisconsin realize that public schools have been spending at least three-quarters of their budgets on labor costs, and in the past had no power to control those costs without union consent. Of course very few unions ever gave such consent.

      Under the new law, schools are free to control their budgets without union consent. That means school boards have the power to cut labor costs and invest the savings in students. That’s the way public education should have been operating all along.

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