Missing Mayor Resurfaces --- Looking for a Hand Out
Mayor Tom Barrett tells reporters why every other school district in the state should sacrifice more funds to bail out Milwaukee Public Schools. Barrett said, “If I don’t see more state aid for MPS, we will have only six more months of school choice.”
With the Governor in Baghdad attempting to giddy busy minds with foreign quarrels, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett came out of hiding to hit state taxpayers up for more money.
For more than a week, Milwaukee parental school choice families and the Milwaukee business community have run an aggressive campaign to persuade Governor Doyle to lift the cap on the school choice program. The program allows low income families in Milwaukee to send their children to a private school where they are twice as likely to graduate. Advocates of the program say up to 4000 students could be forced out of their schools and several schools forced to close if the cap is not lifted.
Unlike his predecessor, John Norquist who championed the right of low income families to opt of Milwaukee’s failing public schools, Barrett has shown a complete lack of leadership when it comes to education . When he does enter the debate, it’s at the eleventh hour to say, “Show me the money.”
The fact is Barrett doesn’t give a rip what happens to the low income families in Milwaukee. He can afford to send his own kids to private school. No, all Barrett cares about is making sure he doesn’t take the heat for high property taxes, or any other problem facing his constituents.
Barrett is concerned because Milwaukee property taxes fund $2,800 of the $6,000 it costs for every child enrolled in the Milwaukee school choice program. Conversely, city property taxpayers pick up only $1,800 of the $13,000 per child enrolled in MPS. State and federal taxpayers pay the rest.
Now Barrett wants the rest of the state to pony up another $1000 for students in the school choice program. Well Mayor, Milwaukee wouldn’t need a school choice program if MPS were doing its job. Holding Milwaukee taxpayers harmless for children who opt out of MPS will remove a financial incentive for MPS to improve. And I wonder if city auditors can tell us how much it costs local taxpayers every time a kid drops out of school or joins a gang.
If the Mayor insists on sticking it to the rest of us, I d like to propose the addition of a statewide member to the Milwaukee Board of Education to be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. If it takes a state to raise a city, we ought to at least have a seat at the table.
2 Comments:
Here we go again, another out of towner complaining about Milwaukee without actually living here. It must be nice to sit in Madison and throw stones. Tell me, why does it make sense for Milwaukee taxpayers to pay more per child for them to go to private schools? Are those children better than MPS child? Given the property tax woes throughout the state of Wisconsin, how in the world is the City of Milwaukee supposed to foot the bill for the expansion of this program? Would you like to come down here and propose tax increases for an entire city so that a small population of children get to attend a private school? You see, what you people don't look at is the big picture. Programs cost money, running a city costs money and taxpayers just have so much they can contribute. What do you say to the taxpayers who funded the numerous failed voucher schools? Sorry your money was used to buy a principal two Mercedes Benz. Until there is real oversight in to these schools there is no way to determine if the students are actually learing. I understand, with you living in Madison you probably don't see all of the "store front" learning academies or the schools run out of basements that inundate our city. So again, what are you going to tell the taxpayers about their property taxes going to schools with no certified teachers, no accountability and no oversight?
1. Mayor Barrett sends his children to MPS schools.
2. Mayor Barrett has not surfaced at the eleventh hour. Perhaps you missed his attempt to spur the debate last August.
3. You're missing the mark on the 4000 students: DPI twice floated proposals to prioritize existing schools and currents students (and siblings), which would have displaced no one and forced no schools to close. Republicans in the legislature and choice advocates like School Choice Wisconsin (yes, the same group now bemoaning the rationing plan) rejected those fair proposals.
4. Way to round up on MPS costs--currently under $12K--and down on MPCP costs--currently around $6300.
5. Let's start making lists of Republican elected officials who have made tax reduction (or "freezes") their top priority without regard to consequences, shall we? We can start with every Republican in the Assembly and the Senate, who put taxes over education in the budget last summer. We can go on to county executives and supervisors (non-partisan elections notwithstanding) who can't go a whole paragraph without mentioning property taxes. What about the candidates for governor? Do you want me to go on, or do you recognize the inisipidity of blaming the mayor for looking out for the pocketbooks of his constituents?
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