Walled Lake Teacher Contract Analysis
The following is a detailed analysis of the current Walled Lake Consolidated Schools teacher contract. Walled Lake employs 990 teachers and enrolls 15,300 students. Of its $167 million operating budget, 87 percent is devoted to employee compensation.
Salary Schedule
- Salaries are determined strictly by "steps," which use a matrix of years experience and graduate credit hours and degrees.
- There of 25 "steps" on the schedule, so teachers get automatic pay raises (2-3 percent) for their first 25 years in the district.
- 89 percent of teachers have graduate degrees and 80 percent have more than 5 years experience, meaning the vast majority of teachers' base salary is between $50,405 and $81,361.
- The Michigan Department of Education reported the average teacher salary in Walled Lake in 2007-08 was $74,105.
- In addition to step increases, the entire salary schedule increases by 1 percent each year.
Pension and Retirement Benefits
- Every teacher participates in the state-run Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System, a defined-benefit lifetime pension system
- Pension calculation: highest 3-year average compensation X 1.5 percent X years of service
- Retirement eligibility: 30 years of service at age 46 or 15 years of service at age 55
- Teacher contribution: 5.4 percent of salary
- After 55, subsidized medical, dental and vision insurance for life (employees never contribute more than 18 percent of premiums)
- Annual pension based on average salary of $74,105 and 30 years of service: $33,347.25
Fringe Benefits
- District pays complete cost of health insurance premium (approximately $14,500 annually)
- Two health insurance options:
- Plan A - MESSA Choices II with $100/$200 deductible and $10/$20 RX card, $40,000 life insurance, long-term disability, dental, vision.
- Plan B - $1,200 cash payment, life, long-term disability, dental, vision.
- Severance pay: $250 per year of experience (maximum of $7,500)
- Substitution teacher pay for 50 percent of their accumulated sick/leave days upon retirement, resignation or termination
Bonus Pay for Additional Duties or Certification
- Certification with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: $2,000
- Department chairpersons: $1,539-$6,928 (varies by size of department and experience)
- Curriculum coordinators : $4,617-$6,928, (varies by experience)
- NCA chairs get stipend of $3,600 or $1,800 (depending on their building)
- Other wage rates for additional duties:
- $27.40/hr for Saturday tests
- $28.20/hr for summer school
- $0.47 per minute for temporary substitution
- Class of more than 30 students: 1/6-1/5 of salary
- Elementary after school special education classes: 5-20 percent of salary (varies by class size)
Work Schedule
- Required number of work days: 179
- Daily schedule: Begins 5 minutes before the first class and ends 5 minutes after the last class
- Maximum of 7.5 hours per day at school (1,342 hours per year)
- A 30 minute uninterrupted lunch period
- Compensation day for every evening parent-teacher conference
- Substitute teacher pay:
- Working on "compensation days"
- Training during the summer
Leave Time
- 11 days at beginning of school year
- 2 for personal use
- 3 days for bereavement
- 2 days for non-Christian religious holidays
- Unlimited accumulation of leave days
- 2 years of leave time for joining military, Peace Corps, Job Corps or America Corps
- 2 years of unpaid leave for childcare (seniority and tenure remain intake)
- 2 years of personal illness/disability beyond sick days (unpaid)
- 1 year for tenured teachers to attend school
- All persons on leave can stay on district's health insurance plan
- 12 weeks for birth of child, adoption, or family illness. Health insurance paid by district
- Year-long sabbatical leave for tenured teachers at half salary and full benefits
- 7 days for union business (union pays for substitutes)
Compensation for Union President
- Union president is released from classroom teaching without loss of pay or fringe benefits
- Additional stipend: $4,617-$6,928 (union pays half)
- 10 per diems during summer
Extra Curricular Activities Compensation
- Coaching (based on years of experience)
- Head football, basketball, volleyball and wrestling coach: $4,617-$6,928 (assistants: $3,078-$4,619)
- Head ice hockey, track, baseball, gymnastics, swimming, softball and soccer coach: $4,233-$6,351 (assistants: $2,693-$4,042)
- Head pom pom, cheerleading, golf, tennis, skiing and cross country coach: $3,078-$4,619 (assistants: $2,309-$3,464)
- Middle school coaches: $1,924-$4,042
- Music and Fine Arts (based on years of experience)
- Band, orchestra, chorus and marching band: $1,924-$2,887
- Assistant high school marching band and pep band: $770-$1,732
- High school drama/musical producer: $7,696-$11,548 (may be split between teachers)
- Middle school play director: $1,539-$2,309
- Miscellaneous
- High school forensics: $3,848-$5,774 (assistants: $2,309-3,464)
- Senior class sponsor: $2,693-$4,042
- Junior, sophomore, freshman class sponsors: $770-$1,155
- Camping program: $770-$1,732 (four nights; prorated based on length of trip)
- Supervisor of Reproductive Health Education: $770-$1,155
- Yearbook: $1,924-$2,887
- Student newspaper: $1,154-$1,732
- National Honor Society: $3,078-$4,619
- Elementary safety patrol: $385-$577
- $28.72/hr for drivers education
- $27.40/hr for After School Cable Television Production Manager
- Intramural coaches/sponsors receive $18/hr
Highly Qualified Teachers = Quality Education
I am happy to see that an area school district is compensating their teachers appropriately. School districts should be in the business of doing what is best for the students and families they serve and this means that school districts should be compensating their employees appropriately. Although an educator's contract details aspects like the work schedule and leave time I do not know of any teacher that does NOT work more than the required number of work days. I do not know one teacher that does NOT work beyond the daily schedule or more than the maximum hours per day at school. Almost all teachers make themselves available to students during their lunch time and rarely use most of the days allotted for illness, personal business, or bereavement. These are teachers in quality school districts that DO compensate their teachers fairly and appropriately.
Districts will get what they pay for and the state of Michigan will also get what it pays for. The majority of a district's budget should be spent on employee compensation because these employees are teaching and providing the support the students need to be successful. The State of Michigan needs to be providing appropriate funding to schools to allow them to continue providing competitive employee compensation rather than providing funding that leaves school districts with a deficit.
End the deficit
The Facts:
1) The Walled Lake District is facing an $18.6 million deficit.
2) 87% of the budget is spent on employee compensation.
3) The MESSA insurance program in place for all teachers in the district is 39% more expensive than the same plan available in the state.
4) The District (taxpayers) pays complete cost of health insurance premium (approximately $14,500 annually)
5) An additional 19.45% of every dollar earned by district employees goes to fund an outdated pension plan.
6) District employees only work 179 days out of a 365 day year, less than half the year.
Answers:
The Walled Lake school district could solve its deficit without laying off any employees by making simple changes.
1) Force the teachers union to shop for a more competitive Health Insurance Policy that would save the district in excess of $5 million annually.
2) Have all of the district employees begin to participate in the costs of their Health Insurance programs by having them pay 20% of the costs of their policies. This would save an additional $4 million per year.
3) End the districts participation in the outdated Defined Benefit Pension program and make the employees participate in their own retirement plan. This would save the district approximately $20 million per year.
Not only would these changes wipe out the $18.6 million deficit but it would allow the district to remain in a sound financial position for years to come without having to layoff employees, cut back on school programs, increase participation fees or turn to the taxpayers in the district for "additional revenue".
You get what you pay for...
You get what you pay for.
Walled Lake has one of the best school districts in the state and some of the best schools in the nation.
Walled Lake students are awarded millions of dollars in scholarships each year.
The overwhelming majority of Walled Lake students go on to become highly productive, tax-paying members of our society.
Hence, the taxpayers of Michigan are getting more than their moneys worth for the compensation paid to the teachers of Walled Lake Schools.
If you think education is expensive, then try ignorance.