Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Salary Compression topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Veteran Madison teachers press board to fix long‑running salary compression
Summary
Dozens of teachers and supporters told the Madison Metropolitan School District board Nov. 24 that salary compression — higher starting pay for new teachers without restoring veteran steps — has left long‑service staff underpaid, hurt morale, and threatens retention. The district said it will pursue an RFP and prioritize the teacher unit in its study.
Dozens of veteran teachers and supporters urged the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education on Nov. 24 to correct a decades‑old salary compression that, they say, erased years of step increases for long‑service staff.
"It is your responsibility to fix it," Andrea Mizzarelli, who identified herself as president of Madison Teachers Inc. for the teachers unit, told the board as she described a schedule change that removed seven levels of step credit for some staff. Multiple speakers described lost income, reduced pension calculations, and the emotional toll of feeling undervalued.
Several teachers gave personal accounts of decades in the district. "I have given my entire career to the Madison schools," said Joan Brennan, a first‑grade teacher who said she has taught for 37 years. Amy Edge, a second‑grade teacher hired in 1996, said she is now 13 levels behind a colleague with similar experience and that a correction would materially affect her retirement calculations.
Why it matters: Speakers said salary compression undermines mentorship and classroom stability at a time the district faces teacher shortages. They argued that raising starting pay without restoring veteran steps shifts costs onto long‑time employees and puts institutional knowledge at risk.
District response and next steps: Administrators told the board they plan to issue an RFP to select an external vendor to study salary compression across bargaining units and to prioritize the teacher unit for earlier action. The superintendent said vendor interviews would be completed in early December and that recommendations would feed into the 2026–27 budget process, with options expected in the April–May budget cycle. "We will be prioritizing the teacher unit," an administrator said during the operations discussion.
What speakers asked for: Requests ranged from an immediate budgeted remedy to a multi‑year plan to restore lost steps and adjust future pay scales. Teachers asked the board to treat correction as a budget priority similar to prior decisions that increased SEA pay or funded 4K expansions.
Where it stands: The board did not adopt a corrective pay plan at the meeting. Instead, members and administrators described a process and timeline for a third‑party study that could result in recommendations this spring and, if approved, changes implemented in a future budget year.
