This school district is located in Washington County, which is literally "Ground Zero" for the largest concentration of MAGA Republican voters in Wisconsin. Well over 80% of residents in this county spent 2010-2018 Standing With Walker to denigrate teachers and defund quality public education.
Today, it seems that nearly every yard in the county that has a sign proclaiming support for Trump and/or contempt for President Biden and those who support him. FJB signs are more prevalent than the American flag in most areas of Washington County. Woe to anyone, especially a public school teacher, that doesn't openly support Trump or who dares to openly support Biden or any Democratic candidate.
Despite being one of the most prosperous counties in Wisconsin, with an extremely high cost of living, average teacher pay in this county ranges from $54,353 to $69,650. The median home price in this county is over $500,000 with soaring apartment rental costs as well.
With most school districts' pay increases well below the inflation rate, few Washington County teachers are able to afford to live anywhere close to where they teach. Not really a big problem though, because in Washington County, school teachers are considered "losers" (and worse) by the Republican voting residents.
The West Bend school district average teacher salary was on the higher end in Washington County at $65,821. The increase in average teacher salary since 2011 was only 9.3%, which was far below the rate of inflation.
During the same time period, the Superintendent pay increased by 23.1%, or about double the average teacher pay increase.
Educators in the West Bend school district are under constant scrutiny and attack by a vocal group of anti-public education MAGA Republican whack-jobs who are constantly publishing articles containing wild (unproven) accusations about what is going on inside the West Bend school district.
Most of these right wing whack-job "journalists" are strong supporters of public tax monies paying for religious schools and destroying public schools is just part of the game plan promoted by the Republican Dictatorship that rules Wisconsin.
Sadly, this non-stop criticism of West Bend public schools has resulted in a community-driven disdain and disrespect for teachers has driven many quality teachers to leave the West Bend school district and move their families out of West Bend and Washington County. This is part of the reason why West Bend seems to be always looking for new teachers on WECAN.
Even though the West Bend school district has one of the higher average teacher salaries in Washington County, in good conscience we cannot encourage young talented teachers to seek employment in this district. Therefore, we rate the career employment potential for this district as a Dead End job.
Planning on Returning to Teach in this District Next Year?
Have All Teachers Received CPI Pay Increases the Past 2 Years?
2023 CPI was 8.00%
2024 CPI was 4.12%
No???
Sick of the School Board Lavishing Big Raises on the Superintendent While Screwing Teachers?
Time to Send a Message to the School Board.....
Without a Guarantee of a BIG RAISE for signing your contract for the 2024-25 SY,
Make your School District WAIT until the week of June 12th to return your contract.
All contracts due by Saturday June 15th.
This is one of over 200 Wisconsin school districts have SCREWED teachers (50,000+) since 2011 while giving MASSIVE pay raises to the Superintendent.
Make your District value YOUR RETURN for next year as much as they value the Superintendent.
Unless they offer at least a CPI raise for all teachers,
Hold off on returning your signed contract until June 12-14th.