School District Loses $4M Under Union Bill Ruling, Waukesha Superintendent Says

The Waukesha School District faces an additional $4 million in cuts to its 2011-12 school year budget if the budget repair bill that mandates most public union employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their wages into the state retirement system remains void under , said Waukesha Superintendent Todd Gray.

The Waukesha expire in June, so they would begin paying into the retirement accounts for the 2011-12 school year.

The school district already faced about $2 million in cuts this year, which Gray said was offset by an unexpected increase in federal funding and teacher retirements. About 130 teachers are retiring in June at the end of the school year.

The school district plans to fill most but not all of the positions left vacant by the retirees, Gray said.

“There is still some attrition,” Gray said. “There are still some teachers we are not going to hire back. That pretty quickly comes up to the $2 million. But the $4 million piece is going to be much, much tougher.”

Gray said that the ruling about the budget repair bill makes him “nervous” about the upcoming budget, which was dependent upon the legislation. The budget also limited public unions, with the exception of police officers and firefighters, from collective bargaining for any benefits. Under the legislation, the unions would only be allowed to negotiate for wages.

“Either they find a way to mandate the 5.8 percent or they need to ease off on the budget cuts we have to make,” Gray said. “… Or we are going to have to come up with the $4 million. It would be $4 million two years in a row.”

The Waukesha School District already was facing , so the $4 million the district would have to pay for the teachers’ contributions to the retirement system could bring the deficit to $15 million. 

But, Gray said he spoke with Gov. Scott Walker about the budget problems when Walker was in Waukesha Friday morning at Banting Elementary School to read to Walker’s niece’s first grade classmates.

“I had a nice talk with the governor,” Gray said. “I think he understands the situation, and I think that he will do what he can. I think he was sincere about trying lessen that impact for us, however that is. I am optimistic after meeting with him that the goal is to help us get to a balanced budget.”