Milwaukee Considers Dissolving School District

Alan Borsuk:

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 board's 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.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 19, 2008 7:53 PM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas