Throughout the past several days, the Madison Metropolitan School District has been battling through a number of implications on the district’s staff and programs as a result of the governor’s proposed budget and budget repair bill.

Early last week, the district’s announcement of its vision for an all-male charter school was significantly hindered because of funding cuts from the state outlined in Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget.

MMSD spokesperson Ken Syke said the district has not yet decided on the future of the charter school, but the proposed school is on the verge of either receiving or being denied a charter school planning grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

“The possibility of a grant does not mean the school is a go,” Syke said. “It means they have some time to plan it out more and have some more specifics behind it. The decision could be announced as soon as March 28 at our next [Board of Education] meeting.”

District officials said it is possible that if the charter school is approved, the district would have to cut programs and spending to offset state funding cuts and fund the addition.

Syke said specific details as to what programs, if any, would need to be cut have not yet been determined and remain only a preliminary thought.

To reduce additional district spending in the coming years, MMSD spent more than 24 consecutive hours negotiating contracts with Madison Teachers Incorporated early last week. Syke said five bargaining units, all represented by MTI, negotiated contracts that will last for two years, beginning June 30.

According to an MMSD statement, the two parties reached tentative contract agreements March 12 for teachers, substitute teachers, educational and special educational assistants, supportive educational employees and school security assistants. The negotiations lasted from 9 a.m. March 11 until 3 a.m. March 12.

Under the new contracts, MMSD teachers would contribute 50 percent of the total requirement for pension payments, saving MMSD an estimated $11 million. 

Employees would also face a salary freeze at current rates through both years of the contract agreement, which would save the district $3.8 million throughout the two years. Standards for health insurance contributions were also set.

Negotiations were also made for substitute teachers and support units, the statement said. All MMSD employees face variations on salary freezes and retirement contributions in the coming years.

The negotiations also addressed how students will make up for the four days the district had to close its doors at the end of February because of teacher sick-outs in protest of the budget repair bill.

Syke said beginning March 21, up to 20 minutes will be added to the end of each school day throughout the rest of the year instead of adding on extra days at the end of the year or taking days away from scheduled breaks. Officials also decided to place employees who used fraudulent sick notes to excuse their absences on a state of suspension, leaving little room for error.

“Our intent was to work it out so we did not have to go additional days,” Syke said. “The community’s response has been very positive – we realize [adding minutes] does impact schedules, but we had a lot of people concerned even before we announced the decision, so we know there would have been a much more significant response if we had gone the other way.”