Rep. VanAkkeren explains that Milwaukee Public Schools impact the entire state

The taxpayers of Wisconsin fund nearly two-thirds of the cost of public instruction within the state. Appropriations for education (which includes all levels of education), account for over 37 percent of the state budget. Elementary and secondary school aids account for nearly $10.3 billion over the biennium. In that light, issues relating to the Milwaukee Public Schools are an issue of importance statewide and not only to the residents of the city of Milwaukee. They are important for both financial reasons and to ensure that all Wisconsin children receive a good education!

As far as the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) system is concerned, there is agreement that there are problems in the system that need to be addressed. Beyond that, however, there is no agreement. There are currently two bills being introduced to make changes to MPS. One, introduced by Sen. Lena Taylor, puts the schools under the control of the city’s mayor. The other bill, introduced by Rep. Tamara Grigsby, would retain control by an elected school board but would make other changes to MPS governance. What follows is a very condensed summary of these proposals.

TEACH Act – Sen. Taylor/ Rep. Colon

• Milwaukee Mayor appoints a superintendent of schools.

• Superintendent is in charge of MPS and most of the powers/ duties of the current board of school directors are transferred to the superintendent (including the appointment of staff, formulation of the school budget, collective bargaining, school closings and the school calendar).

• Board retains the authority to expel students.

• A budget committee is created to advise the superintendent of schools on the formulation of the budget. It consists of the city comptroller, the president of the common council, the president of the board of school directors, the state superintendent of public instruction and three members appointed by the mayor.

• A binding referendum would be held at the April 2017 spring election to decide whether to retain the mayor-led district or return to a system governed by the Board of School Directors.

RACE for Success Act – Rep. Grigsby/Sen. Coggs

• Power to appoint the superintendent is retained by the Board of School Directors. The mayor could create an advisory council, review the final three candidates and veto the board’s final choice. The board could override the mayoral veto with a two-thirds vote.

• A citywide seat on the board would be eliminated and a new population-based district would be created. The mayor could appoint interim board members when a vacancy exists, subject to board veto.

• Election of the board would be moved from the spring elections to the November elections beginning in 2012.

• The mayor would have a line item veto if the aggregate property tax increase exceeds 8 percent. The board can override that veto.

• Create a streamlined and consistently evaluated reading and math curriculum across the district and create at least two transition campuses for disruptive students.

• Create a Partnership for Success that would meet four times a year to include the mayor, common council members, the MPS board and the MPS superintendent to reflect and collaborate on issues related to education, community development, parental involvement, etc.

• Require MPS to permanently centralize individual budgets (as I understand, most are currently centralized but some remain under control of the school principal) and require MPS to make financial reports available to the public and submitted to a number of entities (including the mayor and the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance.

Statewide tests show that the proficiency in MPS is far below the statewide average in the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts test scores. In the 10th grade, for example 69 percent of students statewide are proficient or above in math. In the Sheboygan area school district 72 percent of students score proficient or above in math. In MPS, however, only 27 percent score proficient or above! The numbers are even worse for economically disadvantaged students and black students within MPS. There are similar gaps in proficiency for reading, science, social studies and language arts.

Nationwide, a number of other large cities have changed to a city-run school district. According to Dr. Kenneth Wong, chair of the Education Department of Brown University, almost two-thirds of states have passed legislation authorizing either the city or the state to govern and manage school districts that are under-performing. Cities that have variations of school districts under mayoral control include (but aren’t limited to) Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Hartford. Some point to these districts and say that the governance changes have led to increased test scores. Others claim the exact opposite.

As I noted earlier, there is agreement that there is a problem in MPS that needs to be addressed. These bills both propose changes of differing degrees. Now all we need to do is to come to some agreement on which path to take to help address the need for change and improvement in MPS.

Contact Me: If you would like to contact me regarding this or any other issue, you may call my office at (888) 529-0026 or you can e-mail me at: Rep.VanAk keren@legis.state.wi.us. And, of course, if you want to send me a letter, you can send that to: Rep. Terry Van Akkeren, P.O. Box 8953, Madison, WI 53708- 8953.