Stop me if you've heard this one: How is the MPS budget situation like the BP oil spill?
In the same way that BP has needed both to place a temporary cap on the well and drill a relief well to shut down the leak permanently, MPS--and Wisconsin's public schools generally--needs immediate help as well as a significant revision to the school funding formula that can provide long-term stability and relief.
The immediate help can come in a couple of different ways. One is through work by some members of Congress to get additional emergency funds to states to address school budget shortfalls and rehire laid-off teachers. (Wisconsin, you are probably are not surprised to learn, is hardly alone in having a school funding crisis.) This one-time payment would offset some of the disappearing stimulus funds and hold back the flood of the estimated 300,000 teacher layoffs expected for the fall nationwide.
The amendment's prognosis is poor, with a deficit-conscious Congress anxious about too much more spending.
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