Mass Retirement

"It's like that old labor song, 'Whose Side Are You On?'" said Mordecai Lee, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. "In Wisconsin, just about everyone except the little old lady off the grid has taken sides."

Turner said the law's impact varies with the availability of federal stimulus money, student enrollment, the overall financial health of districts and the status of their contracts -- the higher employee contributions don't begin until labor deals expire.

In the district of Elmbrook, a suburb west of Milwaukee, 52 teachers -- 10 percent of the faculty -- retired at the end of the last academic year.

"That was unprecedented," said Keith Brightman, assistant superintendent for finance, operations and human resources.

The district, which serves 7,000 students, started the school year with a projected $8 million deficit, Brightman said in a telephone interview. It closed almost half of it with the higher contributions from teachers, whose contracts ended June 30. The remaining gap was bridged with reductions in health care and retirement coverage, Brightman said.

Retaining Rookies

"This is a key benefit to us, as labor represents 80 percent of our costs," he said. "The conversation now is how do we keep those great new teachers and maintain the quality that we've had?"

The state's largest district, Milwaukee Public Schools with 80,000 students, is in the middle of a contract and does not benefit from the law, said Roseann St. Aubin, a spokeswoman.

Nor does the Racine Unified School District, in the state's southeast corner. David Hazen, the chief financial officer, said he is worried about a state-approved voucher program that he says provides incentives for residents to move their children out of public schools -- along with the state funding that comes with them.