WILL has conducted the most comprehensive analysis to date of Act 10’s effect on teachers’ salary and benefits and the effect on classroom sizes. The report was authored by Marty Lueken with the Friedman Foundation, as well as Will Flanders and CJ Szafir with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
Governor Walker’s signature collective bargaining reform law was one of the most diverse and controversial events in the history of Wisconsin politics. Critics of Act 10 feared the bill would cut teachers ability to bargain for fair wages, reduce teachers’ pensions, and increase class sizes and demands on teachers, resulting in fewer and less qualified teachers.
Jason Russell shares in an article for the Washington Examiner, “The study finds the law had no effect on the student-teacher ratio and did not have any disparate impact on the state’s urban, suburban or rural school districts. It also found that base salaries for certified teachers dropped, but that gross salaries haven’t changed because of the law.”
“Opponents were loud and consistent in their arguments that Act 10 was a death knell for Wisconsin education,” the study says. “This study has shown that these claims were greatly exaggerated and failed to materialize.”
WILL’s full report can be read here.