MILWAUKEE – Act 10, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s landmark labor reform law, was partially designed to give local school boards the necessary tools to control union labor costs.

But school boards can’t be forced to use those tools. The Milwaukee Public Schools board is apparently a good example of that.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

That board recently approved a new agreement with the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, which includes a small .5 percent increase in the base salary rate for teachers, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

But the school board also “agreed to fully fund the employees’ salary step system, which will result in additional step raises — those based on attaining additional years of experience — of $1,000 to $1,500,” the Journal Sentinel reported.

That means “the majority of teachers and others represented by the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association will get raises of $1,000 or more for the 2015-16 school year,” according to the newspaper.

We’re not sure how many teachers and other employees will benefit. The school district has about 4,000 teachers, according to various sources, so if perhaps 3,000 of them receive a $1,000 raise, that would add another $3 million to the district payroll.

That’s a lot of money for a district that reportedly started the current school year with a $29 million budget deficit.

And some might wonder why an across-the-board raise is been handed to teachers when academic results have been dismal.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

In 2013-14, for instance, the Milwaukee district received an overall score of 51.1 on a scale of 100 from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. That means the school district “failed to meet expectations.”

On the 2014-15 statewide “Badger Exam,” only 27 percent of MPS students were proficient or advanced in English language arts, and only 17 percent met the standard in math.

The continued use of the salary step system will not help to address that downward trend. The old-fashioned system, a leftover of the pre-Act 10 days when unions ruled the education system, bases salary steps on years of experience rather that quality of performance in the classroom.

It would be one thing if quality teachers – and there are certainly many – were granted a raise based on performance. But under the salary step system, pretty much everyone gets a raise, just for remaining employed.

The ironic part is that the MPS school board was under no formal pressure to accept the counter-productive step chart. Under Act 10, school boards are only obligated to negotiate base salary with unions. Other forms of compensation, like step raises, cannot be negotiated.

But they can be discussed by the board and the union through the “meet and confer’ process. Under that system, the board has the power to accept or reject any union suggestion, according to MEAMatters.com.

But apparently the Milwaukee board decided to give the MTEA what it wanted, despite the continued money problems and low student performance.

That means the board must be satisfied with the current state of affairs in the district. We wonder if parents feel the same way.