Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association released a joint statement Friday, announcing passage of a handbook for MPS employees.
The handbook will replace the labor contracts the two parties had arranged over the decades, to set salaries and benefits, work rules and other conditions of employment. Wisconsin Act 10, which Republican state leaders passed in 2011, ended most public union rights, leaving teachers with only the right to bargain for pay raises up to the inflation rate.
According to the statement, MPS and the MTEA met more than 20 times during the past year to craft the policies in the handbook. The Milwaukee School Board has now signed off on them.
The current and final contract between the school district and its teachers will expire at the end of June.
The two parties say their collaborative approach should enable MPS to employ highly-qualified educators, while working within the parameters of Act 10.
MPS has conducted hiring fairs this year, to replace the 700 teachers who have decided to retire at the end of this 2012-2013 school year.