Milwaukee school board votes to dissolve school district
Following a 6-3 vote by the Milwaukee School Board to explore the dissolving of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), Governor Jim Doyle has called for “a complete evaluation of exactly where MPS is” as a first step toward any action by state government to do more for Milwaukee schools or change the way the school system is run, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I take this vote very seriously by the board and, if they are moving in this direction at all, it can only be done through state law,” Doyle said. Both Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett assured parents and the community that the school system will continue to operate as changes are considered and that everyone shares the goal of strong public schools in the city. “I don’t see the Milwaukee Public Schools system dissolving,” Barrett said, “and I think parents should know that. I don’t want parents to think that somehow their schools are going to be changed overnight in some dramatic fashion.”
MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos and many board members believe the decline in state funding is a key factor behind current financial pressure on the schools. Some board members have discussed suing the state for more money. Andrekopoulos said he had not seen much evidence that state leaders or people statewide favored doing more for MPS. Barrett said the board’s vote sends “a very, very strong message to Madison that this is a system that is under a lot of stress.” He added that people might argue whether the stresses are from state or federal government or other outside factors or whether they are self-inflicted, but “at the end of the day there has to be a solution to the long-term fiscal integrity of the school system and, of course, there has to be a greater emphasis on educational attainment.”
The school board vote involved all the members of the board but was taken as a committee, not as the full board. Opponents of the resolution said they will fight the issue hard at the board’s meeting next week. Finance Committee Chairman Michael Bonds voted against the resolution, calling the vote counterproductive. “We were elected to make hard decisions and represent the district, not just abandon it,” Bonds said. “When level heads sit down, I think people will realize the rhetoric will cause more problems.” He added the school board can pass a single-digit tax levy increase this fall and cut spending in ways that won’t affect student achievement. A long-term solution to the way the state funds MPS has to take place in the legislature, he said, arguing that dissolving the district will solve neither the funding formula nor the problems MPS faces related to urban poverty. School Board President Peter Blewett, who also opposed the resolution, said he expects there will be a different outcome next week.
The board’s vote came after Andrekopoulos gave a gloomy report on the short-term and long-term financial pictures of MPS and in the context of growing pressures on the system. Included among the pressures: a vote in a few weeks on what amount in property taxes MPS will put in its final budget. That vote will pit high increases in taxes against sharp cuts in spending and services, according to the figures Andrekopoulos gave. MPS could not be dissolved without action by the Legislature, said Patrick Gasper, spokesman for the state Department of Public Instruction. While every other school system in the state could consider dissolving, Milwaukee is in a separate category under state law.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/19/08, By Alan J. Borsuk