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11/16/2009 Why MPS is not just a Milwaukee debate By Steve Walters The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. 
Walters The one thing it's not -- a comedy. Milwaukee Public Schools has one of the worst achievement gaps between white and minority students in the nation; President Barack Obama himself said so in Madison on Nov. 4. MPS's dropout rate has improved but still badly trails the statewide average. Widespread poverty clogs the gears of learning. There are many reasons why MPS is critically important to everyone in Wisconsin. MPS's 85,381 students make up about 23 percent of all public-school students statewide, for example. And, state support for MPS totaled $752 million last year -- an amount almost equal to 1 cent of the 5-cent state sales tax. Let's put that another way: Wisconsin sales tax collections totaled $4.13 billion last year, and 18 percent of that went directly to MPS. That sets the stage for the coming Capitol theater over MPS's future. In a bold move, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, State Public Instruction Superintendent Tony Evers and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett this summer began a push to rewrite state law to let Milwaukee mayors name MPS superintendents. That's an unneeded, unfair mayoral "takeover," according to elected members of the MPS board, and African-American legislators like Democratic Reps. Polly Williams and Tamara Grigsby, who oppose the change. The phrase "oppose the change" understates the opposition of Williams and Grigsby to the plan of the Doyle, Evers and Barrett. "Over our dead bodies" is another way to summarize how Williams and Grigsby feel about giving current and future mayors control of MPS. In a WisconsinEye interview, Williams called it a power-play conspiracy by four "white men." Only one of them -- Barrett -- lives in the city of Milwaukee, Williams noted. The fourth "white man" called out by Williams is U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who ran Chicago's public schools for Mayor Richard Daley before going off to Washington earlier this year. But other Milwaukee legislators, Democrats Sen. Lena Taylor and Rep. Pedro Colón, are pushing some version of MPS change. A "governance" change is needed to bring new accountability to a very troubled district, legislators like Taylor and Colón insist. Caught in the middle are other city of Milwaukee legislators planning to seek re-election, or even higher office, next year. Democratic Sen. Spencer Coggs has said in a WisconsinEye interview that he plans to run for lieutenant governor, for example. But the fight among Milwaukee legislators over how to shake up their city's school district is just part of the MPS drama. There are other forces -- more than $4 billion in federal Race to the Top funds, a December deadline Doyle wants met, and the role of Republicans and other out-state legislators -- waiting in the wings. Doyle recently called it a "real stretch" to think that Wisconsin will get Race to the Top federal money without bold, permanent reforms like letting Milwaukee's mayor run the state's largest school district. He also said, because he must soon apply for those federal funds, the Legislature must approve the MPS governance change during a special session, which he's expected to call in early December. Minutes later, Democratic Sen. John Lehman of Racine, chairman of the Senate Education Committee and a former classroom teacher, disputed Doyle's timetable. "I don't expect we'll work our way through this by the end of the year," Lehman said. So far, Republicans are not offering to help Doyle give MPS control to Barrett. Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau has suggested another look at a plan to break MPS into smaller, more manageable districts. And Milwaukee Co. Executive Scott Walker, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, said he'd prefer that to mayoral control. Finally, legislators from outside Milwaukee wonder why they should take an active role in what one called the "sandbox" fight between the governor, mayor and legislators from the state's largest city. Another way to describe the role they play may be, "What's in this for me, and my district?" A Shakespeare play? Maybe. Hamlet's Act 3 "to be or not to be" soliloquy includes this lament: "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all..." --Walters, a senior producer at WisconsinEye, is the former Capitol bureau chief of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. |
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