Stevens Point Area Public School District has a draft compensation plan for teaching staff that could be ready for approval this spring.

Superintendent Craig Gerlach updated School Board members Monday, Jan. 9, saying a draft plan has been put together that includes a schedule for advancement, and the plan last week received praise from the working committee. No dollar amounts have been placed in the schedule; district officials continue working on those specifics, and they could be ready as soon as March committee meetings.

Teacher Glen Reindl, who has 20 years with the district, encouraged board members to move forward with urgency.

“I work with a lot of first- and second-year teachers and yes they need guidance, they need help, but mostly they need a plan for their future,” he said. “They want to stay here, but if you look around, there’s a lot of opportunities out there for them.”

Prior to Gerlach’s report on the draft, Reindl pointed to a study published Jan. 9 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel using Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction statistics. The report compared districts across the state in areas like enrollment, teachers, cost per pupil, average teacher salary and tax levy from 2011, the year Act 10 went into effect, to the 2015-16 school year.

“Stevens Point is unprecedented in its loss of pay,” he said. “There are losses in our area, but nothing like Stevens Point.

“Compensation came forward and it disappeared, now we have another opportunity,” Reindl said. “Please make every effort possible, ask the questions. It’s something we’ve talked about for a long time, trust the group – I trust the people in the group. There’s not a lot of people who are necessarily going to be completely happy … but we have to move forward.”

Since 2011, the average teacher salary in Stevens Point has dropped more than 10 percent, he said, not including retirement funds and increased health insurance that typically is taken out of paychecks.

Gerlach and board member Jeff Ebel said the committee members recognize the disparity, and this compensation plan will at the least provide a starting point by which the district can grow in the future.

“I’m very impressed with the dedication of people on the committee and appreciate the time and effort they put in,” Ebel said. “Towards the end of the meeting, it was asked does the group want to move forward or is it a nonstarter. I heard things like ‘this is a very reasonable plan,’ ‘it’s doable’ and ‘it’s understandable.’

“I think it will move forward,” he said.

Gerlach said he hoped to have dollar amounts to put into the schedule and reviewed at committee by March, but that is a tentative timeframe.

The compensation plan narrative indicates teachers must meet two requirements before being allowed to advance in the schedule: they must receive a minimum overall score of “effective” on their evaluations (about 90 percent of teachers currently rank “effective” or “exemplary”), and they must complete 15 hours of professional development.

The district is working on creating professional development opportunities, Gerlach said, but initial discussions include activities such as creating, presenting or attending workshops on best practices related to technology, literacy, curriculum development, early learning, child mental health and assessment.

Professional development could also include attending post-secondary classes that are pertinent to the position or being active on building/district leadership teams.

“What we’re looking at is a framework,” Gerlach said. “There’s a lot of work to be done … it’s going to be a slow process and it’s going to probably be a small box of what we’re looking at in professional development. We want it to be meaningful.”

Even after approval, which could come as soon as April, there likely will be changes in the professional development area.

“This is going to be a work in progress,” he said.

Professional development opportunities could come during weekends or summers, could occur throughout the school year, and it is possible that taking on a student teacher may be taken into account as well.

Board members Dewey Gantz and Trish Baker said the 15 hours falls in line with certified public accountant and lawyer annual professional development requirements, so the requirement for teachers fits in with other professions.

New, incoming teachers with their bachelor’s degree would be placed at the first cell level and within five years, should they receive their bachelor’s professional educator license, would move to cell 6. If an incoming teacher with a bachelor’s degree not in education has experience in other districts, that teacher could be placed in a cell between one and six until the professional license is obtained.

When a teacher receives his/her master’s degree (which must be approved by the district), that teacher would automatically be moved to the master’s professional educator’s cell with a $2,000 increase.

Incoming teachers with a master’s degree would begin at cell 26 until they received their master’s professional license, at which time they would move to cell 31. Cells cap out at 56.

District officials are still determining where to place teachers, Gerlach said, but he added that administration is confident they can place teachers in spots that reflect their years of service. However, if a teacher, for example, has the schooling and experience to be placed at cell 10 but cell 10’s salary limit is $48,000 and the teacher makes $50,000, that teacher could be placed in a higher cell reflecting that salary, Gerlach said.

Given the existing inequities across the district, the superintendent does have the authority to make an adjustment for an individual teacher’s placement based on “unique circumstances.”