Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Union and Milwaukee Public Schools clash over which fringe-rate to use in cost projections for wage increase
Loading...
Summary
At a bargaining session, MTEA pressed Milwaukee Public Schools to use a 17% marginal benefits rate to cost a 2.63% COLA, saying the July 1 increase would cost $24.4 million; the district and its adviser defended a pooled 53% fringe rate required by federal grant rules and audited budgeting, saying the district faces a $46 million structural deficit.
At a bargaining session between Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, negotiators disagreed over how to calculate the district's benefit costs for a proposed 2.63% cost-of-living adjustment.
Amy, a lead MTEA negotiator, said the union's analysis using MPS's own numbers shows the incremental tax-and-benefit costs of the wage increase are about 17%, not 53%, and that the true cost of a full July 1 COLA for represented workers is $24,400,000. "The true cost of full COLA on July 1 is $24,400,000," Amy said, urging the district to accept the timing so classrooms can be staffed for the fall.
Judith Marte, a contracted budget advisor with the Council of Great City Schools, and district representatives defended the district's blended approach. "The 53% rate is not a choice made to inflate costs. It is the rate the district is required to apply uniformly," Marte said, describing the fringe rate as a pooled, audited calculation that includes health care, pension, OPEB and other obligations. District staff said the methodology is consistent with federal grant guidance (2 CFR part 200) and with other City of Milwaukee department fringe rates.
The numbers the parties discussed included: MPS's March/April costing documents that show a total cost figure the union read as about $31.9 million and the district's stated incremental benefit cost of $11.0 million when applying the 53% rate. MTEA presented a marginal calculation it said yields an incremental benefit cost of about $3.5 million and a total July 1 cost of $24.4 million. The district repeatedly emphasized that the district faces a $46,000,000 structural deficit and that the timing of effective dates affects annualized costs and savings.
The dispute moved to line-by-line questions about specific fringe components (Social Security-exempt salaries, OASDI, Medicare, city and state pension employer shares, teacher supplemental plans/SERP, medical and dental). District staff and Marte said pooled health costs reflect prior-year claims experience and are applied as an overall fringe rate, which the district argues cannot be selectively reduced for one bargaining unit without creating federal-compliance and audit risk. The district also noted that some supplemental plans are closed to new employees and that SERP calculations require individual actuarial detail.
Both sides agreed on one procedural point: substantial documentation has been exchanged. The district said it has produced responses to more than 230 written information requests and multiple costing files; the union said it would submit follow-up information requests and a counterproposal and sought a caucus to review the district's line-item detail.
The parties agreed to mediation next week. MTEA said it would send additional information requests before leaving the session and requested counts and actuarial detail for supplemental plans; district staff said they would provide the requested actuarial evaluations and clarifications.
No formal motion or vote was taken at the session. The dispute remains whether the district must use a blended 53% fringe rate for pricing a unit-specific COLA calculation or whether the union's marginal 17% figure (applied only to the wage increment) better reflects the real-dollar impact of the proposed increase. Mediation and follow-up document exchanges were set as the next steps.
