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June 19, 2007

Audio / Video: Madison School Board Vote on the MTI 2007 - 2009 Agreement

The Madison School Board voted 4-3 (for: Carstensen, Moss, Silveira and Winston; no: Cole, Kobza and Mathiak) Monday evening to approve the proposed MMSD / MTI 2007 - 2009 agreement. The new arrangement, which does not include substantial health care changes, was set in motion by the "Voluntary Impasse Resolution Document" - also approved by a 4-3 vote (Carol Carstensen's alt view). This document, approved before negotiations began, took health care changes off the table if the discussions resulted in arbitration.

  • 30 Minute Video Clip
  • 34MB MP3 audio recording of the entire board meeting (MTI Agreement vote discussion begins at about 6 minutes
  • MTI's useful synopsis of the Agreement: 150K PDF, including the extension of the TERP (Teacher Retirement Extension Program) through 2011
  • Going to the Mat for WPS by Jason Shephard
  • Lawrie Kobza notes that changes in health care would have increased salaries by 2.8%, rather than the current 1%.
  • KJ Jakobson's health care cost/benefit analysis
  • A teacher noted the recent MTI vote.
  • Susan Troller: Board approves teachers contract deal on 4-3 vote.
  • TJ Mertz:
    Three Board of Education members voted against the MTI contract on Monday, June 18, 2007. My initial reaction was that it was a ‘free” vote, a vote without consequences. When elected officials know that there are sufficient votes to pass or defeat a measure they can use their votes to make a statement without taking responsibility for what would happen were they to prevail. This is what happened on Monday, those who voted against the contract knew that it would pass and that they would not be held responsible for the serious consequences that would ensue had they been in the majority. Upon reflection, I realized that in fact the vote has the consequences of exacerbating divisions among our teachers that are hard to justify based on their stated rationales for opposing the contract.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 19, 2007 11:55 AM
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