MPS Board president 'not sure' if directors will meet deadline on forced turnaround plan
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Public Schools Board of Directors may not meet a June deadline to decide whether to join a forced turnaround plan for the district's failing schools, the new board president said Sunday, May 22nd.
Mark Sain
Mark Sain said directors will meet with legal counsel this week to discuss their concerns about the proposal. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele put forward the plan in April after state lawmakers mandated it last year.
If the board doesn't agree by Abele's June 23 deadline, the county executive could move forward without Milwaukee Public Schools' involvement. Abele is telling the board to join his plan, which would put one low-performing school under the control of an appointed commissioner next year -- and possibly more schools in the future.
"Are these negotiable items, or are these drop dead terms that there’s no negotiating on?" Sain said, referring to Abele's proposal. "The pressure on us is to do what’s best for kids."
Opportunity Schools Partnership Program
As part of the state budget passed last year, the Republican-controlled Legislature required that Milwaukee develop a plan to turn around 53 failing schools.
Dr. Demond Means
The legislation directed Abele to appoint a commissioner to lead the effort. He chose Dr. Demond Means, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District.
The Abele-Means plan would launch the so-called "opportunity schools" district with one yet-unnamed school in the 2016-2017 school year. It could expand to three more schools a year later, and five additional schools every year thereafter.
If the MPS board agrees to join the Abele-Means plan, staff would remain district employees and union members. The district would keep the funding for each student at the school, although at about 79.5 percent of the regular per-pupil rate.
Chris Abele
"Our proposal is about as favorable to MPS as it could get," Abele said. "It isn`t this or nothing. It`s this or something, frankly, that we`ll all like a lot less."
If the board opts not to take part in the program, the commissioner can appoint an outside group to operate the school. The district would get no per-pupil state funding for that school.
State Rep. Dale Kooyenga, one of the co-creators of the mandate, said last week that lawmakers would make more significant changes if they don't see progress this year. The changes could include handing over control of more schools to a separate governing body, said Kooyenga, R-Brookfield.
Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association
Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association officials said they were most concerned with the current proposal because it poses the most immediate threat.
If the board goes along with the Abele-Means proposal, the district would lose nearly $2,100 per student for every school that falls under the "opportunity schools" district -- the difference between the reduced charter school rate of $8,079 per student and the nearly $10,200 it receives now.
Kim Schroeder, president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association
"The plan is designed to kill MPS as we know it," Kim Schroeder, president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association said. "I think we need to fight it now instead of waiting and succumbing to the threats that may or may not happen."
When asked to clarify his prediction, Schroeder said the Abele-Means proposal does not spell financial ruin in the first year. He said it would in future years "if the law is followed up to the maximum" number of schools.
Sain, the board president, said he didn't know if the current proposal would kill MPS financially.
"I'm not sure if that's in fact the case," Sain said. "Having that question out there is definitely something we`re going to ask," he said.
Abele said he didn't support the GOP-backed legislation and was not in favor of the funding cut to MPS. But he predicted that the district would be able to find savings to offset the gap between the per-pupil rates.
"People are not wrong to be concerned about it – they’re right to be concerned about it. What I’m concerned about is that we’re focusing our energy on the wrong issue," Abele said, referring to the likelihood that Republican lawmakers would make larger changes.
School
Abele said he wants to work with MPS to decide which school becomes the first to join the program.