(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/August 31, 2009) Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on August 31 put to rest any doubts about their commitment to mayoral control of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), announcing for the first time publicly that the move is necessary to tackle the state’s racial achievement gap and to compete for an unprecedented amount of federal school funding.
Since Aug. 13, when Doyle told the Journal Sentinel that he wanted Milwaukee’s mayor to choose the next superintendent and appoint members of the School Board, Michael Bonds, the School Board president, and others have rallied opposition to the idea.
But Doyle, Barrett and Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines stood firm Aug. 31 on the need for a takeover, with Barrett saying the move is about helping failing kids, not political power.
“The easiest thing would be to walk away from this problem,” said Barrett, adding that his children have received a fine education in Milwaukee’s German Immersion School. “I could walk away and say, ‘Too big a fight.’”
The two biggest issues at stake, Doyle said, include selecting a new superintendent for Milwaukee Public Schools, which should be chosen by, and answer to, the mayor to create a “clear line of accountability,” and submitting a competitive state application for a piece of the $4.35 billion in Race to the Top federal school stimulus funding before the end of this year.
“We have to conclude that the current structure isn’t getting us where we need to go,” Doyle said. “We have a real opportunity to take a major step forward for Milwaukee Public Schools.”
In recent weeks, independent research from the New Teacher Project has put Wisconsin at the bottom of all 50 states when it comes to having the necessary reform models in place to be eligible for Race to the Top–a point Bonds has emphasized in arguing that a takeover would not raise the state’s chances of receiving federal money.
Doyle said Aug. 31 that he did not believe that Wisconsin was so far out of the running for Race to the Top that it couldn’t put in a good application.
“We need reforms that we can stick with day after day and determine whether they work,” Doyle said. “We have to convince the Department of Education that we can do it.”
Doyle said that the district needs “10 to 15″ reform measures it can focus on over time that build on the strengths of teachers and administrators in their individual school buildings.
Voters’ rights
Doyle and Barrett also addressed another argument from opponents of mayoral control: voters’ rights. Critics have argued that the dissolution of a citizen-elected School Board under the plan for mayoral control would take away the public’s right to elect school leaders.
Doyle said that was not true.
“The public will have their say much more forcefully in those (mayoral) elections than in those for School Board,” Doyle said.
Also, he added, a model of mayoral control means that schools would be at the top of the political agenda in any mayoral election.
Barrett and Doyle said they intend to change the governance quickly enough to be able to submit an application for Race to the Top funding before the end of the year, but they were less clear on the specifics of how that process would unfold.
Barrett said he wasn’t sure exactly what a new, appointed School Board would look like. He said that they were still investigating models and that he was in favor of whatever model worked.
Doyle, who is expected to introduce an education reform package in a few weeks when the Legislature resumes its fall session, did not offer any details about how the mayoral control proposal would reach state lawmakers. A change in state law is necessary to transfer power over MPS from the School Board to a different entity.
During the Aug. 31 news conference, held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education, a line of community leaders stood behind Barrett, Doyle and Hines in what appeared to be a silent show of support.
But Bonds, who watched from the audience, was unmoved.
Afterward, he said he could not lend his support to any version of a plan for mayoral control.
“These are the same people that stood on the sidelines for years as the district declined,” Bonds said.
PHOTO: Mayor Tom Barrett (center), Milwaukee Common Council President Willie L. Hines (left) and Gov. Jim Doyle announce their support Monday for a proposed mayoral takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools. Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
