Brian Fraley:

“How bad are things that MPS? Only 40% of MPS sophomores are proficient at reading and less than 30% are proficient at math. And the graduation rate and MPS is abysmal. Obviously what MPS has been doing is not working. So why has DPI ignored the problems of MPS? Why can’t the Superintendent and her deputies take a leadership role?”

More than 15 years ago, Rose Fernandez, then a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, tried in vain to rally the education community to address the dysfunction and dereliction to duty on full display at Milwaukee Public Schools.  In the decade and a half since her campaign, things at MPS have gone from bad to worse as the ‘leaders’ at DPI and Milwaukee’s public schools have failed hundreds of thousands of Milwaukee students. 

The bureaucrats at the state Department of Public Instruction have threatened to hold up some state aid targeted to Milwaukee Public Schools because the district keeps failing to file fiscal reports with the state. This could impact more than $215 million in general and special education aid payments. This has been going on since September, but DPI made the political decision to withhold this information from the public until late May.

This crisis comes on top of news that MPS may no longer be able to run the city’s Head Start program because of systemic failure there.