Mayor, school officials offer different options
Five important figures in the debate over governance of Milwaukee Public Schools met Tuesday night at the Milwaukee Center for Independence, 2020 W. Wells St., as part of a public information panel.
The district is currently governed by an elected school board that appoints the district superintendent. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett wants the state to pass legislation allowing the city’s mayor to appoint a superintendent.
While there were vocal supporters of the school board’s present position, the event was more subdued than a similar forum held last Thursday at Riverside High School, 1615 E. Locust St., where protesters gathered on the school’s front steps.
Barrett, School Board President Michael Bonds, School Board Vice President Peter Blewett, MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos, State Superintendent Tony Evers and Secretary of Wisconsin’s Department of Administration Michael Morgan all took part in the forum. The panel was sponsored by the Wisconsin Parent Teacher Association, the Milwaukee City Council PTA and other organizations.
Both sides stuck to the arguments they have been supporting since the school governance debate started warming up at the beginning of September.
Barrett decried the status quo and stressed the importance of providing quality education to the children of Milwaukee. The mayor also mentioned the inability of parents to enroll their children in the city’s best schools because of social problems such as poverty and racial inequality. Ninety percent of the district’s 85,000 students are black, according to a statement released by Barrett and Gov. Jim Doyle.
“Everyone should be embarrassed and angry with the racial achievement gap,” Barrett said.
Morgan said the discontinuity in the school board, which has had seven presidents in the past 10 years, has hurt the district and made it difficult to achieve positive change.
Evers outlined the state’s corrective action plan for MPS, which has been labeled by the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act as a “district identified for improvement” in math and reading for the last five years. Districts become identified for improvement following consecutive years of students scoring lower than proficient in standardized testing.
The state plan aims to increase student attendance, ensure consistent quality in math and reading curriculum and establish a consistent pattern of accountability.
Bonds said the status quo in MPS is on its way out and the current board, which added three new members and elected Bonds as president in April, is working to improve the district.
A statement released by the Coalition to Stop the MPS Takeover said the graduation rate in MPS has increased over the past several years from 52 percent to 69 percent.
A plan called the Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership has helped more students in grades three through eight and grade 10 earn “proficient” or “advanced” marks on standardized tests. In the 2005-’06 school year, only 38 percent of these students scored at least proficient, while 47 percent were proficient in 2008-’09, according to the statement.
There have also been concerns about voter turnout in school board elections. Low turnout, Barrett argued, leads to inadequate representation in school governance. Mayoral elections draw more voters and a superintendent appointed by the mayor would more accurately represent how most citizens feel about school government, Barrett said.
Bonds and Blewett, however, said it would be wrong to take the vote away simply because some citizens choose not to vote.
“If people don’t vote, let’s not take the vote away. Let’s educate our citizens,” Blewett said.
Blewett also said while the racial achievement gap in MPS is bad, it is not the worst in the state. Both Madison and Beloit have larger gaps, he said.
Bonds is also concerned that Barrett and state representatives are only interested in a mayoral takeover of the schools now that a federal grant, called “Race to the Top,” is available. The grant is awarded to states that “create the conditions for education innovation and reform,” according to the United States Department of Education.
Bonds added that a mayoral takeover is not a prerequisite for receiving the grant.
Despite the differences and apparent disjunction between the two sides, there is still plenty of middle ground for the mayor and school board to stand on. Both Barrett and Andrekopoulos acknowledged the need to improve teacher quality, which would include retaining quality teachers, Barrett said.
All panel members also said the future of Milwaukee depends on improvements in MPS.
“Education of children is inextricably intertwined with the future of the city of Milwaukee,” Barrett said.
Blewett added, “There’s no better investment than investing in our children.”
