MPS to explore dissolving district

Money pressure brings boards surprising vote

By ALAN J. BORSUK
aborsuk@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Sept. 18, 2008

The Milwaukee School Board voted Thursday night to begin looking into dissolving the Milwaukee Public Schools system.

The completely unexpected 6-to-3 vote followed a gloomy assessment of the short- and long-term financial situation of MPS from Superintendent William Andrekopoulos and several board members.

The resolution called for the administration to examine state and federal guidelines for dissolving the school district and who would be responsible for educating children in Milwaukee if that happened.

Voting for the resolution were board members Danny Goldberg, Jennifer Morales, Jeff Spence, Bruce Thompson, Terry Falk and Tim Petersons. Voting against were Peter Blewett, Michael Bonds and Charlene Hardin.

While it is extremely far from this step to MPS going out of business and the action might turn out to be largely a symbolic protest of the MPS financial situation it was by far the boards most dramatic reaction to the pressures it is under. Those pressures include wide demands for better student achievement, a tightening money vise and the strong prospect of a double-digit increase in the property tax levy to be imposed this fall.

We have ample evidence the current model is going to move us to ruination sooner or later, Goldberg said.

Falk said he did not want the move to be a Trojan horse for those who want Mayor Tom Barrett to take over running the school system an idea being discussed in some power circles in the city.

But, he said, Structurally, financially, were in an untenable situation.

Anybody else running it good luck, Falk said.

Bonds called it disgusting to discuss dissolving the district. I just think its ridiculous, he said. He left the meeting after the vote.

Andrekopoulos began the meeting by saying, The state finance system to fund Milwaukee Public Schools is broken, then repeating the sentence for emphasis.

He said that even with no increase in spending for the current school year, the property tax levy to support schools would go up 9.8% because of a decrease in state aid to MPS.

He presented the board with a set of choices it could make involving property taxes and spending, generally involving large property tax increases or major cuts in spending.

The path he supported would cut the budget proposal approved by the board in June by $2.5 million, but still bring a 13.95% increase in property taxes.

Andrekopoulos told the board that as he looked at years beyond the current one, the financial trends present a picture of a spiral-down effect that will affect the stability of MPS.

He pointed to increasing spending on special education while federal and state aid pays for a decreasing portion of that expense as another major factor affecting the picture, and he asked rhetorically, Can we continue operating a school district when it seems that fresh money cannot be brought in.

Were beginning to have conversations on what we should stop doing, he told the board, describing the current budget crunch.

Falk, who chairs the budget committee, said he feared that he would have to vote for a property tax increase of more than 10% this year unless we want to slash and burn school services.

In recent years, only two small school districts in northern Wisconsin have considered dissolving in light of the financial situation of schools in the state. No district has dissolved.

In a speech Thursday in Madison on the state of education in Wisconsin, Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster said, Public education in Wisconsin has been stretched to the limit and more needs to be invested in education if Wisconsin is to be competitive economically.

The Milwaukee board has until late October to decide the final budget for this year and the property tax levy. A year ago, a proposal that included a 16.4% budget increase brought a large wave of public protest, and the final budget called for a 9% increase in taxes.