FWIW, in my district (not in Wisconsin),and I believe this is common, the district covers the costs of hiring substitute teachers for sick days. My district allows two personal days per year; the district employs subs for those two days. However, teachers have to apply for personal leave well in advance. We can’t just “phone in personal,” like you’d call in sick. So if I were protesting, I’d have to plan it a week beforehand.
If teachers have already used the two personal days that year, they pay the cost of the sub. Same with if they’ve used all their sick leave. Subs earn almost $70 per day here, so teachers just pray they don’t get hit with some medical crisis that would keep them out for weeks.
My district tried requiring doctor’s notes one yeart. Not only was it time-consuming to check all those notes, but it put a hardship on employees, as people had to go to the doctor to get a note if they were suffering from a cold. I handed an administrator a doctor’s note detailing my urinary tract infection. The administrator blushed, and the policy dropped shortly thereafter. I like to think TMI brought down a bad policy. 