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Madison teachers press board to fix salary compression, warn of staff losses
Summary
Scores of MMSD teachers and parents urged the Board of Education to address salary compression that leaves veteran educators paid near newer hires, citing retention, morale and retirement impacts and urging immediate district action.
Scores of Madison Metropolitan School District educators told the school board on Dec. 15 that long-serving teachers are being shortchanged by a salary system that rewards newer hires and deepens turnover and retirement losses.
"The time to act is now," said Amy Tarkowski, a first-grade teacher at Franklin with 21 years in the district, noting that resigning and being rehired under current rules would yield "a difference of $3,500 just this year." Jenny Hillwild, a special-education teacher at Mendota Elementary, said the district’s earlier compensation adjustments prioritized recruiting new talent but left veteran staff behind.
Supporters of a districtwide fix said salary compression erodes trust, raises recruiting costs and reduces institutional knowledge. Multiple speakers across at least 22 schools described veterans who have lost pay or retirement credit; one teacher estimated tens of thousands in cumulative losses tied to compressed top-three retirement years.
Board members did not take immediate action during the meeting; speakers urged the board to move beyond consultant studies and adopt concrete steps that restore years-of-service credit, clarify budget sources, and protect retirement calculations.
Proponents said any remedy should be districtwide rather than limited to a single group. "We want action now," said several teachers in repeated public comments, arguing that delayed fixes amount to a continued choice not to honor long service.
The board received the public comments and referred personnel-specific complaints to the superintendent and the district’s complaint process. No formal motion to change the salary schedule was made during the meeting. The board is expected to consider budget and compensation issues through upcoming operations work-group and policy-review meetings in January and as part of the 2026–27 budget process.
Next steps: board members said budget timetables and policy-review calendars will determine when specific compensation proposals return for formal consideration.
