AB 919

Current law limits the increase in the total amount of revenue per pupil that

a school district may receive from general school aids and property taxes in any

school year (statewide per pupil revenue limit adjustment). For the 2009-10 and

2010-11 school years, no school district may increase its revenues per pupil to an

amount that exceeds the sum of $200 and the revenue increase allowed per pupil in

the previous school year. For the 2011-12 school year, no school district may increase

its revenues per pupil to an amount that exceeds the sum of $275 and the revenue

increase allowed per pupil in the previous school year. For the 2012-13 school year

and any school year thereafter, no school district may increase its revenues by an

amount that exceeds the amount of revenue increase allowed per pupil in the

previous school year increased by the percentage change in the consumer price index.

Under the Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA), in local government

employment other than law enforcement and fire fighting employment, if a dispute

relating to the terms of a proposed collective bargaining agreement has not been

settled after a reasonable period of negotiation and after mediation by the Wisconsin

Employment Relations Commission (WERC), either party may petition WERC to

initiate compulsory, final, and binding arbitration with respect to any dispute

relating to wages, hours, and conditions of employment. An arbitrator must adopt

the final offer of one of the parties, which is then incorporated into the collective

bargaining agreement.

Under this bill, this process does not apply to a dispute over economic issues

involving a collective bargaining unit consisting of school district professional

employees if WERC determines that the school district has submitted a qualified

economic offer (QEO). A QEO consists of a proposal by a school district to its

represented employees to increase the average salary and fringe benefits by a certain

amount. The amount is the product that results from multiplying the average

amount the school district spends on salary and fringe benefits in the current school

year by the statewide per pupil revenue limit adjustment divided by the statewide

average base revenue per pupil, as calculated by the Department of Public

Instruction (DPI). To determine the statewide average base revenue per pupil, DPI

must first determine the base revenue per pupil for each school district by dividing

the sum of general school aids and property taxes received by the district by the

district's enrollment. DPI must certify the amount calculated as required in the bill

to WERC by January 1, 2011, and biennially thereafter. For the certification due to

WERC by January 1, 2011, the department must use $275 for the per pupil revenue

limit adjustment. This bill requires school district professional employees to be

placed in a collective bargaining unit that is separate from the units of other school

district employees and requires collective bargaining agreements covering school

district professional employees to be for a term of two years. The bill also creates a

cap on salary and fringe benefit annual increases for all nonrepresented school