Dozens of teachers, staff and students urged the Madison Metropolitan School District board on Jan. 12 to address salary compression, saying the pay gap between recently rehired or newly hired educators and continuous veteran staff is eroding morale and threatening long‑term retention.

Caroline Hesse, a teacher at Nuestra Mundo Elementary, told the operations work group: “I am here to highlight the issue of salary compression…If we don't fix it, we'll drive some of our more dedicated and experienced educators away to other school districts and then our students will be the ones who suffer.” A fourth‑grade student, Jamieson Graves of Kennedy Elementary, said compression is “about people,” not just budgets, and asked the board to take action “urgently and thoughtfully.”

Several speakers described local examples and personal impacts. Stacy Wingate of Gompers Elementary, a 25‑year teacher, said she has worked three jobs through much of her career and during recent cancer treatment was forced to quit outside work; she said compression makes it hard for veteran teachers to afford living in Madison. Emily Pease Clem, an instructional coach, estimated compression costs her the equivalent of “about 1 semester's tuition for my son at UW Madison.” Carrie Cooper, a school psychologist at Kennedy, and other commenters emphasized veteran staff’s invisible labor — mentoring, crisis response and program leadership — and argued that correcting compression recognizes that institutional knowledge.

Board members and staff acknowledged the concerns during the HR presentation that followed. Staff and MTI representatives urged that the district prioritize retention as it develops recruitment strategies, and asked the board to avoid delaying remedies, for example by commissioning additional RFPs that could slow corrective action.

What happens next: the board heard the testimony and continued with its scheduled human‑resources and budget discussions. During the meeting staff repeatedly said they will include compression and retention considerations as part of ongoing recruitment and retention planning. No final board action on salary compression was taken at the Jan. 12 operations work group meeting.