MADISON (WKOW) -- More than 100 teachers and staff from the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) rallied for higher wages at the district's school board meeting on Monday.
The demonstrators called their rally a "rally for retention" after a year of staff shortages. They say the shortages are in part because of low wages, which haven't been adjusted to meet the rise in inflation.
Madison Teachers Inc. is the union that organized the rally. The organization's president, Mike Jones, told 27 News they're all burnt out and deserve a competitive wage.
"When you underpay someone, you're communicating a lot," Jones said. "We are doing this not as an act of defiance or anger, but actually out of more fear. Fear that we are not going to have as many of our colleagues around next year because they are going to either the suburbs, or somewhere else or to another industry."
The union's demands included:
- A 4.7% cost of living wage adjustment for all workers
- Step increases on teacher salary contracts
- An increase of $5/hour for educational and security assistants
- An increase in substitute teacher pay
Following the rally, school district spokesperson Tim LeMonds told 27 News in a statement:
"We appreciate and value all of our world-class educators who chose MMSD and the community of Madison as the place to do their great work. We also acknowledge the frustrations amongst staff over there being limited funding for wage increases; a direct result of a regressive state budget. We agree our staff deserves better, and like many districts across the Badger State, our budgetary reality involves a State Legislature which continues to abdicate its responsibility to do the bare minimum for public schools.
"We are grateful for the voices we heard during the MTI staff rally today, and appreciate the respectful discourse they have shown during our collaborative process in building consensus. It is our hope we will be able to come to an agreement which appropriately values staff and keeps students always at the center, while enabling our district to be good fiscal stewards for the taxpayers of Madison."
District officials will continue to review and edit the budget going forward. They plan on a preliminary vote at the end of June.
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