Milwaukee Public Schools, Wisconsin

Milwaukee Public Schools
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
District details
Superintendent: Dr. Darienne Driver
# of school board members: 9
Website: Link

Milwaukee Public Schools is a school district in Wisconsin that served 75,749 students during the 2015-2016 school year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The district was the largest school district by enrollment in the state during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The Milwaukee school district was sued by a private voucher school over transportation costs in March 2017. The lawsuit said the district was required by state law and the district's own transportation policy to pay for transportation of the voucher school's students. District officials did not comment on the pending litigation.

In the spring of 2015, newly appointed Milwaukee Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver and many other school district administrators spoke out against education funding cuts included in the proposed state budget. Though those cuts were reinstated in the budget by the Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, a proposal to create a program to have independent commissioners take over schools if they did not meet specific academic achievements was added. Protests against the proposal were organized around the city in June 2015 in response to the addition, but the program was passed into law with the budget in July 2015. The Milwaukee County executive had to appoint a commissioner to take over up to three Milwaukee schools. When district officials rejected the plan for one of the district's failing schools in June 2016, the commissioner resigned. The district ended up not meeting qualifications for takeover for the 2016-2017 school year.

This was not the first time Milwaukee Public Schools disagreed with the Wisconsin State Legislature. The district, city, and state government debated the fate of empty buildings throughout 2014 when the school district did not want to sell its unused properties to voucher schools. A law included in the 2015-2017 budget tried to streamline the process to sell empty buildings in the district. After months of delays, the Milwaukee Common Council approved a number of interested parties to begin the bidding process to sell the buildings in April 2016. A study released by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty in March 2017, however, said the city had violated the law. City officials disputed the claim.

See also: Issues in Milwaukee Public Schools

About the district

The Milwaukee school district is located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee school district is located in Milwaukee, the seat of Milwaukee County, in southeastern Wisconsin. The county was home to 957,735 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Demographics

Higher education achievement

Milwaukee County outperformed Wisconsin as a whole in terms of higher education achievement between 2011 and 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.1 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.8 percent of state residents.

Median household income

From 2011 to 2015, the median household income for Milwaukee County was $43,873. During that same period, the median household income for Wisconsin was $53,357. For the United States, it was $53,889.

Poverty rate

The poverty rate in Milwaukee County was 22 percent between 2011 and 2015. During that same period, the poverty rate for the entire state was 12.1 percent, and for the entire country it was 13.5 percent.

Racial demographics

Racial Demographics, 2015
Race	Milwaukee County (%)	Wisconsin (%)
White	65.1	87.6
Black or African American	27.1	6.6
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.0	1.1
Asian	4.2	2.8
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.1
Two or more races	2.7	1.8
Hispanic or Latino	14.5	6.6

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver

Superintendent

This information is updated as we become aware of changes. Please contact us with any updates.

Dr. Darienne Driver is the superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools. She served as interim superintendent from July 1, 2014, to September 30, 2014. She was named the district's first permanent female superintendent on October 1, 2014. For the 2015-2016 school year, Driver was paid an annual salary of $245,000.

Prior to becoming superintendent, Driver served as the district's chief innovation officer for two years. Driver also had experience serving as a deputy chief in curriculum, instruction, professional development, and school empowerment with the School District of Philadelphia. She earned a bachelor's degree from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, a master's degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, another master's degree from the University of Michigan, and a doctoral degree from Harvard University. Driver started her career in education as a public elementary school teacher in Detroit Public Schools.

School board elections

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors consists of nine members elected to four-year terms. Eight members are elected by district, and one member is elected at large.

This officeholder information was last updated on July 27, 2018. Please contact us with any updates.

Governing majority

2017-2019

Milwaukee Board of School Directors, 2017-2019
Member	District	Term end date
Mark Sain	District 1	2019
Wendell Harris Sr.	District 2	2019
Michael Bonds	District 3	2019
Annie Woodward	District 4	2021
Larry Miller	District 5	2021
Tony Baez	District 6	2021
Paula Phillips	District 7	2021
Carol Voss	District 8	2019
Terrence Falk	At-large	2019

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors voted unanimously on 78.05 percent of its votes (excluding procedural items) between the bi-annual organizational meeting on April 25, 2017, and the regular board meeting on December 21, 2017. A total of 96.34 percent of board votes passed.

Annie Woodward dissented more often than other members of the board during this period, casting 12 no votes. Tony Baez cast eight no votes, and Larry Miller and Michael Bonds each cast six no votes. The remaining members of the board cast between zero and five no votes each.

Due to the number of unanimous votes, a governing majority of the board could not be discerned from the voting data.

Absences

Bonds was absent for 18.29 percent of votes cast by the board between April 25, 2017, and December 21, 2017, a higher absence rate than any other member. Harris had the second-highest absence rate, missing 12.20 percent of all votes cast during that period. No member was present for every vote cast during that period.

Issues

Fiscal and budgetary matters accounted for the highest percentage of issues the board voted on between April 25, 2017, and December 21, 2017, at 42.7 percent. Fiscal and budgetary matters were second-highest at 22.0 percent.

2015-2017

Milwaukee Board of School Directors, 2015-2017
Member	District	Term end date
Mark Sain	District 1	2019
Wendell Harris Sr.	District 2	2019
Michael Bonds	District 3	2019
Annie Woodward	District 4	2017
Larry Miller	District 5	2017
Tatiana Joseph	District 6	2017
Claire Zautke	District 7	2017
Carol Voss	District 8	2019
Terrence Falk	At-large	2019

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors voted unanimously on 88.59 percent of its votes between the bi-annual organizational meeting on April 28, 2015, and the regular board meeting on April 20, 2017 (the last meeting preceding the 2017 organizational meeting). A total of 97.83 percent of board votes passed.

Annie Woodward and Terrence Falk dissented more often than other members of the board. The two members each cast eight no votes. Michael Bonds and Larry Miller each cast seven no votes. The remaining members of the board cast between three and five no votes each.

Due to the number of unanimous votes, a governing majority of the board could not be discerned from the voting data.

Absences

Joseph was absent for 35.33 percent of votes cast by the board between April 2015 and April 2017, a higher absence rate than any other member. Harris had the second-highest absence rate, missing 14.13 percent of all votes cast. Zautke was the only member to be present for every board vote.

Issues

Board procedures accounted for the highest percentage of issues the board voted on between April 2015 and April 2017 at 26.1 percent. Fiscal and budgetary matters were second-highest at 16.8 percent.

2014-2015

Milwaukee Board of School Directors, 2013-2015
Member	District
Mark Sain	District 1
Jeff Spence	District 2
Michael Bonds	District 3
Annie Woodward	District 4
Larry Miller	District 5
Tatiana Joseph	District 6
Claire Zautke	District 7
Meagan Holman	District 8
Terrence Falk	At-large

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors voted unanimously on 75.89 percent of its votes between January 1, 2014, and April 23, 2015. Out of all votes recorded by the board, 94.64 percent passed.

When the board did not vote unanimously:

• 82.14 percent of the votes passed.
• No members voted together 100 percent of the time.
• Annie Woodward dissented more often than any other member of the board, casting a total of 23 no votes. Larry Miller dissented the second-most times, casting nine no votes. The other members of the board cast between two and four no votes each.
• Michael Bonds, Meagan Holman, Mark Sain, and Jeff Spence voted together 82.14 percent of the time. When combined with Claire Zautke, they voted together 57.14 percent of the time.
• Miller and Terrence Falk voted together 64.29 percent of the time. When combined with Tatiana Joseph, they voted together 53.57 percent of the time.

The voting data indicated that Bonds, Holman, Sain, Spence, and Zautke were the governing majority on the board, and Miller, Falk, and Joseph were the minority faction on the board. Woodward did not vote with either group consistently enough to be considered part of the majority or minority faction.

Absences

Woodward was absent for 14.29 percent of all votes cast by the board between January 1, 2014 and April 23, 2015, which was the highest percentage of any board member. Joseph was had the second-highest absent rate, missing 11.61 percent of all votes cast. No member was present for all votes cast, but Zautke had the lowest absent rate at 0.89 percent.

Issues

Board procedures accounted for the highest percentage of issues the board voted on between January 1, 2014 and April 23, 2015 at 28.6 percent. Fiscal and budgetary matters were second-highest at 19.6 percent.

Election dates

See also: Milwaukee Public Schools elections (2015) and Milwaukee Public Schools elections (2017)

Members of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors are elected to four-year terms on a staggered basis every odd-numbered year. Five seats were up for election in 2015, and four seats were up for election in 2017.

Public participation in board meetings

The Milwaukee Board of School Directors maintains the following policy on public testimony during board meetings:

“	Public testimony is accepted generally only at meetings of the Board’s committees, except in July, when the Board’s rules allow items to come directly to the Board as regular items of business. 1. Speaker slips and agendas are available on the long table in front of the doors to the Auditorium. 2. If you wish to speak to or to express your position on an item on the agenda, please submit a Speaker’s Slip to the Secretary. Please fill the slip out completely, including: The date of the meeting The name of the committee The number of the item on the agenda which you wish to address Your full name Your full address, including city, state, and ZIP code The organization, if any, that you represent Whether or not you wish to speak at the meeting Any brief comments that you might want to record, if you do not wish to speak Whether you support the item, do not support the item, or wish only to present information on the item. When you are called upon to speak, please state your name and spell your last name for the record before you begin your remarks. It is not necessary to give your address. 3. For the sake of fairness, and to give everyone a chance to speak, the Chair reserves the right to limit the length of time allowed to any one speaker. Usually, speakers will be allowed two minutes to make their points and an additional 30 seconds to wrap up. 4. In accordance with Roberts Rules of Order, all comments, questions, or requests are to be directed to the Chair of the Committee, who will determine the most efficient way to address them. 5. Testimony may be transmitted to the Board in care of the Office of Board Governance: The Office of Board Governance Room 273 Milwaukee Public Schools Central Services Building 5225 W. Vliet Street P.O. Box 2181 Milwaukee, WI 53201-2181 Telephone: (414) 475-8284 Fax: (414) 475-8021 email: governance@milwaukee.k12.wi.us	”
—Milwaukee Board of School Directors

Budget

From 1993 to 2013, the Milwaukee school district had an average of $1,030,463,714 in revenue and $1,036,591,905 in expenditures, according to the United States Census Bureau's survey of school system finances. The district had a yearly average of $172,031,905 in outstanding debt. The district retired $15,492,333 of its debt and issued $23,877,000 in new debt each year on average.

Revenue

The table below separates the district's revenue into the three sources identified by the agency: local, state, and federal.

Revenue by Source
Fiscal Year	Local		State		Federal		Revenue Total
	Total	% of Revenue	Total	% of Revenue	Total	% of Revenue

Click [show] on the right to display the revenue data for prior years.
1993	$234,332,000	35.34%	$366,716,000	55.31%	$61,978,000	9.35%	$663,026,000
1994	$254,247,000	35.49%	$393,840,000	54.97%	$68,330,000	9.54%	$716,417,000
1995	$244,299,000	33.14%	$417,162,000	56.59%	$75,760,000	10.28%	$737,221,000
1996	$249,699,000	31.53%	$462,934,000	58.46%	$79,217,000	10.00%	$791,850,000
1997	$209,229,000	25.34%	$529,168,000	64.09%	$87,214,000	10.56%	$825,611,000
1998	$197,184,000	22.60%	$577,059,000	66.12%	$98,438,000	11.28%	$872,681,000
1999	$226,611,000	24.58%	$597,347,000	64.79%	$98,069,000	10.64%	$922,027,000
2000	$257,932,000	25.88%	$634,297,000	63.65%	$104,355,000	10.47%	$996,584,000
2001	$245,403,000	23.91%	$660,061,000	64.31%	$120,838,000	11.77%	$1,026,302,000
2002	$287,062,000	26.17%	$676,062,000	61.64%	$133,628,000	12.18%	$1,096,752,000
2003	$242,373,000	22.04%	$693,086,000	63.02%	$164,362,000	14.94%	$1,099,821,000
2004	$222,379,000	20.34%	$703,725,000	64.38%	$167,029,000	15.28%	$1,093,133,000
2005	$274,677,000	24.18%	$700,171,000	61.63%	$161,183,000	14.19%	$1,136,031,000
2006	$244,294,000	21.55%	$717,236,000	63.26%	$172,212,000	15.19%	$1,133,742,000
2007	$268,646,000	23.43%	$718,725,000	62.67%	$159,448,000	13.90%	$1,146,819,000
2008	$293,862,000	24.75%	$707,164,000	59.56%	$186,192,000	15.68%	$1,187,218,000
2009	$320,452,000	25.84%	$631,991,000	50.96%	$287,789,000	23.20%	$1,240,232,000

2010	$336,289,000	26.50%	$672,974,000	53.04%	$259,642,000	20.46%	$1,268,905,000
2011	$339,418,000	25.89%	$706,087,000	53.87%	$265,333,000	20.24%	$1,310,838,000
2012	$334,731,000	28.13%	$633,933,000	53.28%	$221,083,000	18.58%	$1,189,747,000
2013	$348,331,000	29.40%	$631,627,000	53.31%	$204,823,000	17.29%	$1,184,781,000
Avg.	$268,164,286	26.48%	$611,017,381	59.47%	$151,282,048	14.05%	$1,030,463,714

Expenditures

The table below separates the district's expenditures into five categories identified by the agency:

• Instruction: operation expenditures, state payments on behalf of the district for instruction and benefits, and retirement system transfers
• Support Services: support services, food services, and retirement system transfers for support service staff
• Capital Spending: capital outlay expenditures (i.e., construction, land or facilities purchases, and equipment purchases)
• Debt & Gov. Payments: payments to state and local governments and interest on school system debt
• Other: all other non-K-12 programs, except food services

Expenditures by Category
Fiscal Year	Instruction		Support Services		Capital Spending		Debt & Gov. Payments		Other		Budget Total
	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget	Total	% of Budget

Click [show] on the right to display the expenditure data for prior years.
1993	$397,020,000	58.90%	$244,741,000	36.31%	$19,655,000	2.92%	$5,886,000	0.87%	$6,744,000	1.00%	$674,046,000
1994	$418,186,000	59.79%	$246,552,000	35.25%	$23,820,000	3.41%	$4,569,000	0.65%	$6,245,000	0.89%	$699,372,000
1995	$449,289,000	59.91%	$263,071,000	35.08%	$25,430,000	3.39%	$6,089,000	0.81%	$6,058,000	0.81%	$749,937,000
1996	$453,148,000	58.92%	$270,236,000	35.14%	$33,070,000	4.30%	$7,114,000	0.92%	$5,568,000	0.72%	$769,136,000
1997	$472,063,000	57.86%	$294,141,000	36.05%	$36,382,000	4.46%	$7,758,000	0.95%	$5,492,000	0.67%	$815,836,000
1998	$509,228,000	58.42%	$307,554,000	35.28%	$36,582,000	4.20%	$11,111,000	1.27%	$7,195,000	0.83%	$871,670,000
1999	$523,231,000	55.52%	$330,833,000	35.11%	$63,068,000	6.69%	$17,386,000	1.84%	$7,843,000	0.83%	$942,361,000
2000	$521,741,000	51.64%	$342,526,000	33.90%	$66,878,000	6.62%	$69,184,000	6.85%	$9,960,000	0.99%	$1,010,289,000
2001	$547,708,000	54.37%	$361,884,000	35.92%	$61,326,000	6.09%	$26,255,000	2.61%	$10,192,000	1.01%	$1,007,365,000
2002	$568,408,000	53.03%	$371,644,000	34.68%	$76,206,000	7.11%	$25,133,000	2.34%	$30,380,000	2.83%	$1,071,771,000
2003	$598,937,000	51.95%	$407,167,000	35.31%	$88,056,000	7.64%	$24,088,000	2.09%	$34,741,000	3.01%	$1,152,989,000
2004	$609,401,000	52.30%	$400,711,000	34.39%	$110,702,000	9.50%	$9,144,000	0.78%	$35,206,000	3.02%	$1,165,164,000
2005	$612,654,000	51.15%	$396,745,000	33.12%	$78,299,000	6.54%	$70,437,000	5.88%	$39,587,000	3.31%	$1,197,722,000
2006	$630,610,000	54.74%	$410,054,000	35.60%	$52,484,000	4.56%	$14,818,000	1.29%	$43,992,000	3.82%	$1,151,958,000
2007	$628,494,000	55.01%	$424,155,000	37.12%	$33,134,000	2.90%	$14,036,000	1.23%	$42,758,000	3.74%	$1,142,577,000
2008	$628,732,000	53.25%	$473,305,000	40.08%	$25,549,000	2.16%	$8,913,000	0.75%	$44,279,000	3.75%	$1,180,778,000
2009	$651,653,000	52.89%	$492,014,000	39.93%	$24,772,000	2.01%	$10,146,000	0.82%	$53,530,000	4.34%	$1,232,115,000

2010	$645,795,000	51.23%	$505,606,000	40.11%	$33,578,000	2.66%	$18,121,000	1.44%	$57,563,000	4.57%	$1,260,663,000
2011	$665,915,000	51.28%	$486,088,000	37.43%	$23,835,000	1.84%	$60,836,000	4.68%	$61,947,000	4.77%	$1,298,621,000
2012	$584,266,000	49.19%	$443,020,000	37.30%	$31,836,000	2.68%	$61,410,000	5.17%	$67,213,000	5.66%	$1,187,745,000
2013	$570,346,000	48.08%	$442,014,000	37.26%	$25,801,000	2.17%	$76,891,000	6.48%	$71,263,000	6.01%	$1,186,315,000
Avg.	$556,515,476	54.26%	$376,860,048	36.21%	$46,212,524	4.47%	$26,158,333	2.37%	$30,845,524	2.69%	$1,036,591,905

Debt

The table below shows the amount of debt retired, issued, and outstanding in the district for each year.

Debt
Fiscal Year	Retired	Issued	Outstanding

Click [show] on the right to display the debt data for prior years.
1993	$0	$0	$0
1994	$0	$0	$0
1995	$0	$0	$0
1996	$0	$0	$0
1997	$0	$0	$0
1998	$0	$0	$0
1999	$0	$0	$0
2000	$0	$0	$13,580,000
2001	$0	$0	$0
2002	$0	$0	$0
2003	$0	$0	$0
2004	$22,147,000	$303,165,000	$440,468,000
2005	$0	$0	$0
2006	$28,887,000	$26,387,000	$438,046,000
2007	$58,159,000	$35,942,000	$415,829,000
2008	$17,820,000	$7,552,000	$405,561,000
2009	$21,834,000	$6,673,000	$390,400,000

2010	$45,690,000	$72,033,000	$416,742,000
2011	$25,588,000	$0	$391,154,000
2012	$30,358,000	$0	$360,795,000
2013	$74,856,000	$49,665,000	$340,095,000
Avg.	$15,492,333	$23,877,000	$172,031,905

Teacher salaries

The average teaching salary in Milwaukee Public Schools during the 2015-2016 school year was $60,521.00. The minimum salary was $39,304.00, and the maximum salary was $85,829.00, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Unions

Teachers in Milwaukee Public Schools are represented by the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA). Members of the MTEA elected the following leaders to set union policy:

• President: Kim Schroeder
• Vice President: Amy Mizialko
• Secretary: Ingrid Walker-Henry
• Treasurer: Dorothy Hancock

Members elected president and vice president are released from school duties for their term of office in order to conduct union business. All other elected members conduct their responsibilities on a voluntary basis, after regular school hours.

Schools in Milwaukee Public Schools

Enrollment

The district served 75,749 students during the 2015-2016 school year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Between 2009 and 2015, Milwaukee Public Schools experienced a 7.73 percent decrease in enrollment. The following table details enrollment in the district between 2009 and 2015:

Total enrollment
School year	Enrollment	Year-to-year change (%)
2009-2010	82,096	-
2010-2011	80,934	-1.4
2011-2012	79,130	-2.3
2012-2013	78,363	-0.98
2013-2014	78,516	0.19
2014-2015	77,316	-1.53
2015-2016	75,749	-2.03

District schools

Milwaukee Public Schools operates 156 schools. A list of all the schools in the district can be found here.

There are 10 different types of schools within the district:

• Neighborhood schools: Also known as an attendance-area school, these schools automatically accept students from their neighborhood. If there is room, they may enroll students from outside of the immediate neighborhood but within the district of Milwaukee Public Schools.
• Neighborhood specialty schools: These are neighborhood schools that offer special programs or focus on specific areas of study. Students from the neighborhood are enrolled first, then students within the district, then students outside of the district, if space allows.
• Citywide specialty schools: These are schools that offer special programs or focus on specific areas of study. Students are accepted from the whole district and also outside of the district. Preference may be given to students within the school's neighborhood, depending on the school.
• Comprehensive middle schools and comprehensive high schools: These schools offer a wide variety of programming. Though they do have specific attendance areas, students from outside those areas may also enroll.
• Traditional schools: These schools offer comprehensive academic curriculums in core subjects as well as extracurricular activities. These schools focus on a well-rounded educational experience.
• Charter schools: These schools operate more independently from the district than other schools. They set their own enrollment and transportation policies, so these vary by school.
• Alternative schools: These schools target students who struggle in a more traditional classroom environment.
• Partnership schools: Like alternative schools, these schools target students who struggle in a more traditional school environment. They also target students who are considered at risk of dropping out.
• Contracted agency schools: These are operated by partners within the district's community, offering programs such as Head Start, kindergarten, and limited elementary services.
• MPS Head Start: This program offers free preschool for income-eligible 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds at a number of schools and other sites in the district.

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction administers annual Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) tests to students throughout the state. These tests assess proficiency in math and reading among students in grades three through eight as well as 10th grade. WSAS tests also evaluate proficiency in language arts, science, and social studies at grades four, eight, and 10. The Department of Public Instruction publishes results from WSAS tests as part of each district's Annual District Report Card.

Annual District Report Card grading scale
Designation	Score
Significantly Exceeds Expectations	83-100
Exceeds Expectations	73-82.9
Meets Expectations	63-72.9
Meets Few Expectations	53-62.9
Fails to Meet Expectations	0-52.9

The Annual District Report Card compares district performance with state performance based on four criteria:

• Student Achievement: This category compares reading and math performance by district students to state and national standards.
• Student Growth: This category compares year-to-year performance on reading and math sections in WSAS tests.
• Closing Gaps: This category compares test performance by low-performing groups in the district to similar cohorts across the state.
• On-Track and Postsecondary Readiness: This category uses benchmarks including graduation rate, attendance rate, English language arts achievement, and math achievement to assess college and career readiness.

Districts can receive grades from 0 to 100 on the annual district report card, with "Significantly Exceeds Expectations" as the highest designation for scores of 83 and above, and "Fails to Meet Expectations" as the lowest designation for scores of 52.9 and below. The full grading scale can be found in the table above.

The Milwaukee school district achieved an overall score of 55.3 during the 2015-2016 school year, which led to a "Meets Few Expectations" designation from the Department of Public Instruction. The district received a "Fails to Meet Expectations" designation for the 2013-2014 school year with an overall score of 51.1. The following tables compare district performance with state performance and detail the accountability ratings for schools in the district, according to the annual district report cards for the 2013-2014 school year and the 2015-2016 school year.

Annual district report cards were not published for the 2014-2015 school year. The Wisconsin State Legislature passed SB 67, known as the pause bill, in May 2015 to stop the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction from publishing annual district report cards and using the results for educator effectiveness assessments for the 2014-2015 school year. The bill was passed due to concerns about how results from new assessments based on the Common Core State Standards Initiative would be applied. It was supported by Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers and the Department of Public Instruction.

Annual District Report Card grades
School year	Student achievement		Student growth		Closing gaps		On-track and postsecondary readiness		Overall score
	District	State	District	State	District	State	District	State
2015-2016	35.9	67.5	60.3	66.0	57.4	60.8	68.0	86.6	55.3
2014-2015	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2013-2014	37.1	66.4	55.7	62.4	63.0	66.3	68.7	85.3	51.1

Accountability ratings for schools in the district
School year	Significantly exceeds expectations		Exceeds expectations		Meets expectations		Meets few expectations		Fails to meet expectations
	Number of schools	Percent of schools	Number of schools	Percent of schools	Number of schools	Percent of schools	Number of schools	Percent of schools	Number of schools	Percent of schools
2015-2016	3	2.0%	21	13.8%	31	20.4%	41	27.0%	42	27.6%
2014-2015	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2013-2014	0	0.0%	8	5.0%	22	13.7%	49	30.4%	55	34.2%

Mathematics and reading proficiency

The state's Annual District Report Card includes a review of district and state proficiency information in mathematics and reading for the previous five years. In the 2015-2016 school year, the state changed reading to English language arts (ELA). This review includes data from the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) and the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment for Students with Disabilities (WAA-SwD) for students from grades three through eight and 10. The following tables compare the district's percentage of proficient and advanced proficient students with state levels from the 2009-2010 school year through 2013-2014 school year as well as the 2015-2016 school year. The district's proficiency rates in math decreased since 2009, but proficiency rates in reading and ELA increased.

Mathematics proficiency comparisons, 2009-2016
School year	District proficiency rate (%)	State proficiency rate (%)
2009-2010	20.8%	47.0%
2010-2011	20.7%	46.8%
2011-2012	20.9%	48.3%
2012-2013	20.6%	48.2%
2013-2014	20.3%	48.8%
2014-2015	N/A	N/A
2015-2016	14.6%	41.0%

Reading/ELA proficiency comparisons, 2009-2016
School year	District proficiency rate (%)	State proficiency rate (%)
2009-2010	13.9%	35.7%
2010-2011	14.1%	35.7%
2011-2012	14.9%	36.0%
2012-2013	15.1%	36.4%
2013-2014	15.7%	36.7%
2014-2015	N/A	N/A
2015-2016	20.0%	42.4%

Graduation and dropout rates

The district's graduation rate has decreased since 2009, and the district’s dropout rate has increased since 2005. The tables below detail the district's four-year, five-year, and six-year cohort graduation rates from school year 2009-2010 to 2014-2015 and the district's dropout rates from school year 2005-2006 to 2014-2015.

Graduation rates, 2009-2015
School year	Four-year cohort rate		Five-year cohort rate		Six-year cohort rate
	District	State	District	State	District	State
2009-2010	61.1%	85.7%	-	-	-	-
2010-2011	62.8%	87.0%	70.3%	89.5%	-	-
2011-2012	61.8%	87.5%	70.8%	90.4%	72.7%	90.4%
2012-2013	60.5%	88.0%	70.8%	90.8%	73.4%	91.3%
2013-2014	60.9%	88.6%	68.7%	91.3%	72.9%	91.5%
2014-2015	58.2%	88.4%	68.8%	91.6%	71.0%	92.1%

Dropout rates, 2006-2015
School year	District	State
2005-2006	3.3%	0.9%
2006-2007	5.9%	1.6%
2007-2008	6.0%	1.7%
2008-2009	6.5%	1.6%
2009-2010	5.9%	1.6%
2010-2011	4.9%	1.5%
2011-2012	5.5%	1.4%
2012-2013	5.8%	1.4%
2013-2014	6.0%	1.3%
2014-2015	5.8%	0.9%

Issues

Voucher school sues district over transportation costs

St. Joan Antida High School, an all-girls Catholic voucher school that is part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, filed a lawsuit in federal court in March 2017 against Milwaukee Public Schools over transportation costs. The lawsuit calls for Milwaukee Public Schools to pay for the cost of transportation for St. Joan Antida students, which it says is required by state law.

State law requires public school districts to pay for transportation costs of students attending private schools within the district's boundaries if certain criteria are met, according to Brian Pahnke, assistant state superintendent for finance and management in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The criteria include:

“	If the child lives two or more miles from the private school that he or she attends If the child resides within the private school’s approved attendance area, and If the private school that the child attends is located either within the boundaries of that child’s school district, or not more than 5 miles beyond the boundaries of the district.	”
—Wisconsin Public Radio (March 23, 2017)

State law also says, “There shall be reasonable uniformity, in the transportation furnished to pupils, whether they attend public or private schools.” The Milwaukee school district's transportation policy dictates that busing must be provided to both public and private schools if students live more than two miles from their schools or if they live more than one mile from public transportation. The policy also includes an exception for citywide schools.

It is that exception that is referenced in St. Joan Antida's lawsuit, which is represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. “If they’re busing citywide high school students who live within a mile of public transportation, then they need to do the same for my girls,” said Paul Gessner, head of St. Joan Antida.

Gessner said transportation was a hardship for a number of his students' families. “Without transportation it definitely impacts the choice of school that parents can select. The very first thing that we get asked is, ‘Is there a bus?’”

Co-chair of Schools and Communities United Ingrid Walker-Henry said it was unreasonable for state law to require a public school to bus private school students. She said public money should be used for public schools. “We have this institution in our city that does educate all children and provides its own transportation, yet, we’re going to continue to take from these children to provide for something private,” said Walker-Henry.

President of School Choice Wisconsin Jim Bender said the lawsuit was not related to a school choice debate. “All families in Milwaukee pay property taxes through home ownership or rent,” said Bender. “State law is clear that all students, regardless of sector, are to be treated equally with transportation services.”

C.J. Szafir, vice president for policy and deputy council of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said the lawsuit was filed in federal court because St. Joan Antida had a constitutional claim. “We believe the constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law are being violated by Milwaukee Public Schools where they discriminate against children who attend private and religious schools by denying them transportation,” said Szafir.

A spokesperson for Milwaukee Public Schools said the district would not comment on pending litigation.

Study says city violated law to expedite sale of empty school district buildings

See also: Debate over the fate of empty school buildings

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released a study in March 2017 that said that the city of Milwaukee had violated a law to expedite the sale of unused Milwaukee Public Schools properties. The study showed 40 Milwaukee Public School properties were vacant or underused and said that five of those 40 buildings were for sale, though there was interest from potential buyers for other buildings.

"The City of Milwaukee is acting like state law is optional," said C.J. Szafir, vice president for policy and deputy council of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The law in question was passed as part of the state's 2015-2017 state budget.

"With a struggling Milwaukee educational system and interest from charter and voucher schools, city officials would rather see them empty than put to good use and filled with kids," said Szafir.

Officials from Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Department of City Development said the study was misleading and pointed to errors such as listing one school district property as being at 55 percent capacity when it was at 99.6 percent capacity.

"We absolutely assert that the City of Milwaukee is following the law as it was written," said Milwaukee Department of City Development Deputy Commissioner Martha Brown.

Michael Bonds, member of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, said the push to sell the district's buildings was like “asking the Coca-Cola Company to turn over its facilities to Pepsi so Pepsi can expand and compete with the Coca-Cola Company.” His statement alluded to the struggle between public school advocates and school choice advocates in Milwaukee. School choice advocates argue that the school district should sell its unused buildings due to its low graduation rate and failing schools, while public school advocates argue that a number of choice schools perform no better and are not held to the same standards.

Before the law to expedite the sale of buildings went into effect, Milwaukee Public Schools either refused to sell its buildings to voucher schools or asked for additional payments to combat a state funding flaw. If a building was sold to a voucher school and students left the school district to attend it, the district's per-pupil state funds decreased. Because the district was responsible for paying a portion of per-pupil vouchers, the district had to pay more money to voucher schools, even if it had less money coming in. This funding flaw was corrected in the state's 2013-2015 budget, but its repercussions lasted years afterward. When they refused to sell to voucher schools before the 2015 law went into effect, school district officials said they were trying to avoid placing a larger tax burden on the city's residents.

The 2017 study from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also mentioned the city's tax burden. “You have dwindling enrollment at Milwaukee Public Schools that has led to buildings that just sit empty, costing taxpayers money,” Szafir said. “These empty buildings over the course of the last decade have cost Milwaukee taxpayers well over $10.2 million.”

The 2017 study called on the Wisconsin State Legislature to add penalties if the city does not comply to the law. One suggested penalty was to award attorney's fees “if the aggrieved party prevails,” in a lawsuit related to the law, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Such a penalty could benefit the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty as it represents school choice advocates.

“I know there are those that want financial repercussions for not cooperating,” said Sen. Alberta Darling (R-8), a co-author of the law. “I don’t know how you do that. It’s really hard to have teeth in the legislation because the ball keeps bouncing in different directions.”

District faces possible $50 million budget gap

Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver announced on March 8, 2017, that the district faced a $50 million gap between expenditures and revenue sources in its 2017-2018 budget projections. Driver said the gap was caused in part by a decrease in federal funding and by legacy costs from healthcare benefits for retired employees.

To offset costs, Driver said the district was pursuing donations from philanthropic sources and evaluating programs in order to fund only those that had proven successful. The district received $36 million from philanthropic sources for the 2016-2017 school year, which was more than double what it received the previous year. Driver said she did not anticipate that layoffs would be needed, but she did say that district staff might need to shift positions.

In anticipation of the budget gap, schools across the district were asked to cut budgets by six figures, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The district also moved to shut down underperforming high schools with small enrollments and to reconfigure other schools.

Superintendent announces district will not share student immigration status with federal officials

Sanctuary policy conflicts

Milwaukee Public Schools was one of 15 districts tracked by Ballotpedia that debated sanctuary policies as of October 16, 2017. Learn more about these debates on Ballopedia's coverage of sanctuary jurisdictions  »

Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver sent a message to district families in February 2017 that promised to protect student information, including immigration status. In the message, Driver called Milwaukee Public Schools a "save haven of learning and support."

"We do not ask for students' immigration status when they enroll," Driver said in the message. "If we become aware of a student's immigration status, we will not share that information with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services."

Driver's message was sent out two days after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued guidance memos on the enforcement of immigration laws and executive orders on immigration issued by President Donald Trump (R). The memos called for more Border Patrol agents and prioritized the removal of individuals convicted or charged with a crime and reinforced prosecutorial discretion. Officials from DHS said that these guidance memos would not impact the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protected minors brought to the U.S. without legal permission.

After Driver sent the message, school board members Larry Miller and Tatiana Joseph proposed a resolution to create a district policy that would require staff to not share students' legal status with government agencies. The resolution was passed unanimously on March 30, 2017.

2017-2018 school year to start in August

See also: School administrators seek flexibility for school start date

Students attending middle schools and high schools in the Milwaukee school district started the 2017-2018 school year on August 14, 2017, rather than on September 5, 2017, when most of the public schools in the state started. The change to an earlier start time was championed by Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver. She said the district needed to maximize learning time for its students.

Officials in other school districts in the state expressed their desire to also switch to earlier start times, but due to a state law, they were unable to start before September 1, 2017. The Milwaukee school district had more flexibility in scheduling their school calendars than other districts.

A bill that would have repealed the September 1 start date law was re-introduced in the Wisconsin State Legislature in February 2017. It did not move out of committee before the 2017-2018 school year started on September 5, 2017. A similar bill was introduced in past sessions but was never passed.

School administrators in favor of starting earlier than September said it would give high school students more time in class before they took advanced placement courses in May and that it would help maximize learning for other students as well. Administrators said students were more ready to learn in August than they were in the spring when teachers started seeing declining results.

Officials with the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association, the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, and other city and county visitor centers, however, said they relied on student workers to close out the season through Labor Day. In 2015, the month of August brought in $130 million more in tourism revenue than the month of June, according to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.

District partners with higher education institutions to increase college readiness

Milwaukee Public Schools partnered with the Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee to create an education initiative called M-Cubed in January 2017. The initiative was created to make sure the three education institutions were teaching subjects in similar ways. It was also created to increase college readiness, increase the expectation of continuing to learn after high school, and increase the understanding of the importance of higher education.

"Students have a hard time with math," said Milwaukee Area Technical College President Vicki Martin. "With our students, as well, they hold off 'til the last semester because they want to avoid it at all costs. So what we realized is that we could together start working on a curriculum early to make sure that we are all aligned."

A third of Milwaukee's high school students do not continue to the 10th grade, according to Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver. "Everybody's who's in the college readiness game knows how important 9th grade is," said Driver. "But again, this is not work that we can figure out by ourselves. We have to have partners that are helping us get our students over those different benchmarks, getting them to the finish line."

Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program

See also: Battles over school governance (2016)

Background

The Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP) was added to the proposed state budget by the Joint Finance Committee on May 20, 2015, on a party-line vote with Republicans in support and Democrats against. It was co-authored by State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-8) and State Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-14). It remained in the budget that was passed by both chambers of the Wisconsin State Legislature in July 2015 and signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker (R) on July 12, 2016.

The OSPP set up the takeover of up to three of the Milwaukee school district's lowest-performing schools by an independent commissioner appointed by the county executive for the 2015-2016 and the 2016-2017 school years. According to the law that set up the program, five more schools could be added each year thereafter. All employees in those schools were supposed to be fired and required to reapply for their jobs. The program also gave the commissioner the ability to convert any of the schools to private, non-religious voucher schools or independent charter schools.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers

Before the governor signed the budget into law, Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers urged Walker to veto the program. He did not agree with taking away the Milwaukee school district's right to close or reorganize its schools. He pointed out that it was a right every other school district in the state had.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said he would do his best to make the OSPP work, although he did not ask for such responsibility. He told Darling and Kooyenga that he wanted to keep coming back to lawmakers and discussing what worked and what did not work with the program. Abele also said the state voucher system was unfairly designed and punished the Milwaukee school district with a disproportionate funding rate.

Abele did not think the new program was going to fix all of the district's problems, but he thought it might be a chance to try out some solutions. "I'd rather be on the side of suggesting any idea that might improve MPS rather than simply sit on the sidelines saying I don't like that attempt to improve it and idly watching while something I think we all agree, we need to do better at, as it continues to worsen," said Abele.

Some members of the Milwaukee community thought Abele, a lifelong Democrat, should have turned down the offer to appoint the commissioner. One retired district teacher told Abele "to stand up to Governor Walker and say no." She was backed by the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association. According to the association's president Kim Schroeder, they looked into every option to fight the program.

The Milwaukee school district was the only district in the state affected by the proposal for the 2015-2016 school year, as it met the following three criteria: it had over 15,000 students, it received the lowest rating on the annual school report cards for two years in a row, and it received state aid to transport minority students within district boundaries. Only two other districts in the state—Madison Metropolitan and Racine Unified—had the possibility of qualifying due to student enrollment and receiving state transportation aid. Madison, however, received "meets expectations" ratings in 2013 and 2014, and Racine received "meets few expectations" ratings both years.

Protests

Before the OSPP was implemented with the passing of the state budget, several protests were held in the district in what organizers called "a week of action." On May 27, 2015, a school defense action was held at Auer Elementary School, where hundreds of students, educators, parents and community members linked arms around the building. A petition containing nearly 6,000 signatures of those who opposed the Opportunity Schools Partnership Program was delivered to Darling's office on June 4, 2015. Protestors also gathered outside of North Division High School on June 5, 2015.

In August 2015, 22 community groups, including labor, religious, and civic organizations, formed a coalition called "Schools and Communities United" in order to fight against the OSPP. Leaders of the coalition called on Abele to appoint a commissioner who opposed the privatization of public schools. They also called on state lawmakers to overturn the program.

State Sen. Alberta Darling (R)

In response to the rallies, Darling released the following statement:

“	I find it reprehensible that the county board and the teachers union would rather trap children in schools where zero kids are proficient at reading. Zero. While the county board and MTEA waste time and energy with useless resolutions and pay raises, we have enacted reforms that will improve the educational opportunities and outcomes for kids stuck in failing MPS schools. These reforms have worked in places like Memphis and New Orleans and it’s time to let them work here in Milwaukee. For the sake of the children, I hope the unions and county board come to their senses and finally put children first.	”
—State Sen. Roberta Darling (R) (2015)

Educators across the state also weighed in on the program. Approximately 30 teachers in the La Crosse school district protested outside of the district's Central High School to show their support and solidarity with Milwaukee teachers and their opposition to the OSPP. "The communities didn't ask for this, the public schools didn't ask for this. It's very undemocratic. It takes authority away from the elected school board and puts it in the hands of an appointed official," said John Havlicek, a high school Spanish teacher. Jennifer Voigt, a high school science teacher, said, "We view all kids in the state as our students and so what happens in other parts of the state, it affects us because those are our kids too."

Commissioner appointed

Dr. Demond Means

On November 12, 2015, Abele announced that he had appointed Dr. Demond Means, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, as the commissioner of the OSPP.

Means graduated from the district's Riverside University High School and had worked in the education field since 1994. Before becoming superintendent, he served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, human resources director, and assistant superintendent. Means also served as Wisconsin's representative on the Education Commission of the States in 2010, and he chaired a statewide task force on the state's achievement gap in 2014.

Means said he did not intend to leave his position as superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District. "We just moved to Mequon this fall, so I am very committed," he said. Means said his tasks as commissioner of the OSPP would be completed during his personal time. He also said he did not know how long the position would last, or if he would be paid to take it on.

Along with the announcement, Abele published a news release with the following statement:

“	In the classroom and as an administrator, Dr. Demond Means has made a commitment to reach and uplift every single child. His relentless pursuit of excellence, coupled with his background as a long-time social justice advocate and supporter of Milwaukee Public Schools, makes Dr. Means a unique fit to partner with MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver and the MPS community to strengthen our public schools. We can all agree that our children, teachers, families and communities are better served when every child has the opportunity to achieve the kind of success in school that’s required to live a better life.	”
—Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele (November 12, 2015)

Means issued a statement after the announcement, saying:

“	As a proud MPS graduate and native of Milwaukee who still has scores of family and friends directly impacted by the trajectory of educational opportunities in the city, the role of commissioner of OSPP is important to me. As Milwaukee goes, so goes Wisconsin. It is imperative that we do everything in our collective power to assist in closing achievement gaps in Milwaukee and around the state. I have high expectations for the professionals entrusted with the responsibility of educating our students and am passionate about ensuring we maximize the academic, social, and emotional growth of all children. I am excited to work with concerned citizens from Milwaukee, the region and the state to ensure that the city’s youth have greater access to high-quality educational opportunities.	”
—Dr. Demond Means (November 12, 2015)

OSPP plan proposed

Means unveiled his proposed plan to takeover one of the district's poorest performing schools to the Milwaukee School Board on April 21, 2016. Means proposed that the school, which had yet to be chosen, be transferred to the opportunity schools district for the 2016-2017 school year, and he left the possibility open for more schools to be added in later years. The school would remain part of MPS in the way charter schools were treated. The district would retain its per-pupil funding, but at the reduced charter school rate, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Means also proposed that the staff at the schools retain their jobs and benefits through the district.

The proposed plan also detailed that schools in the opportunity schools district would transition to year-long community schools by the 2017-2018 school year. Students in those schools would take the same assessment tests as other students in Milwaukee Public Schools. Schools would be considered successful if their students performed better in math and reading or graduated at higher rates than the district's students. Schools that showed improvement would transition back to the Milwaukee School Board's control after 60 months.

Terrence Falk

Milwaukee board member Terry Falk compared Means' plan to "a shotgun marriage." He told Means, "It's almost impossible for us to walk down the aisle with you and say 'I do.'" Means said he understood the plan "was not ideal," but he said it was a "best case scenario." He told the board that failure to agree to the plan could result in more involvement from the Wisconsin State Legislature.

Michael Bonds

Board member Michael Bonds voiced support for the plan's concept. He said the board "risked harsher treatment" from the state legislature if they did not agree to it, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Though the Milwaukee School Board would have retained some of its powers over the school transferred to the opportunity schools district in Means' proposal, that school would also have had an "independent, autonomous school governing body," according to the law that set up the program. The governing body would have power to get involved in the budget and principal appointment processes.

Means acknowledged that the law that created the OSPP could have been "devastating" to Milwaukee Public Schools, but he said his proposal tried to make sure that did not happen. “We have found a way to comply with the law without hurting MPS,” Means said. “This is not a takeover. This is not New Orleans; this is not Detroit.”

OSPP plan rejected

The school board, along with Superintendent Darienne Driver, announced their rejection of Means' proposal on June 17, 2016. Driver said they could not accept Means' original proposal because it was vague, had an unclear funding plan, and conflicted with state law. MPS administrators suggested an alternative plan: that the OSPP create a charter school with an early childhood program in an existing MPS building.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said he was disappointed with the rejection of Means' plan. Both Abele and Means said a rejection of their proposal could lead them to bring in outside operators.

Prior to rejecting it, the board sent Means' plan to the Milwaukee City Attorney's Office to determine the board's options. Though the deadline to choose the first school to join the opportunity schools district was May 25, 2016, Abele announced that deadline would not be met as district officials did not meet with him and Means. Abele and Means met with district officials after the proposal was rejected, but no progress was made. Means resigned six days later.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said that school district officials had to start working with the OSPP. He said the state would not rule out changing the law if the two entities could not agree.

Commissioner resigns

Means served as commissioner of the OSPP from November 12, 2015, to June 29, 2016. When announcing his resignation, Means said he was leaving due to his inability to form a “collaborative partnership” with the school district. He said when he took the job, he had promised not to "impose anything on Milwaukee Public Schools.” Abele accepted Means' proposal “with regret.”

“	Over the last several months, it has become clear to me that efforts to implement the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program law will become increasingly adversarial at a time when adversity is the last thing our children need.	”
—Demond Means (June 29, 2016)

After the announcement, the district released a statement saying, “We are surprised by today’s news. We recognize Dr. Means’ service to education and children in our area and agree that actions must be child-centered.” Officials from the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association said Means' resignation was "a victory."

Abele had 120 days to appoint a replacement commissioner. Kooyenga said law makers were going to back to the drawing board.

MPS no longer meets criteria for takeover

Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers announced in October 2016 that Milwaukee Public Schools no longer met the requirements to have its schools be considered for the OSPP. Evers said that due to changes in the way the state's report cards were calculated no districts in the state met the qualifications for takeover for the 2016-2017 school year. The changes included emphasizing student improvement over proficiency as well as taking poverty levels, English language learners, and students with disabilities into account.

District officials said Evers' announcement reflected improvements at the district's schools. “While we are energized by the progress we’re making, we still have significant work to do,” Driver said in a statement.

Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association President Kim Schroeder also issued a statement after the announcement. "The MTEA applauds the work of all educators, parents, and community members who have worked tirelessly to fight this legislation both through grass-roots organizing and direct action," Schroeder said.

Kooyenga said the OSPP acted as a good incentive for the district. He also said, "Rest assured, there will be more reforms."

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High percentage of teachers leaving Milwaukee area

A report released by the nonprofit Public Policy Forum on April 25, 2016, showed that the number of teachers leaving the profession in the greater Milwaukee area increased by 25 percent over the past five years. A normal turnover rate was about 10 percent, according to Joe Yeado, the study's author and senior researcher. “Since 2009-10, we’ve seen the number of teachers leaving the workforce increase by about 23 percent. So we do have more people leaving the workforce,” said Yeado.

Yeado said teachers leave the profession for a number of reasons, including retirement, family reasons, or switching to a higher-paid career. He also said Wisconsin's Act 10, which took away the bargaining rights of teachers' unions, played a part in the high attrition rate. “In the year immediately following the adoption of Act 10, the number of teachers leaving the workforce spiked,” Yeado said. “And it spiked again in the most recent year, which corresponds to the end of union contracts in large districts like Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha.”

The turnover problem for Milwaukee was two-fold, as the number of students enrolled in teaching programs in Wisconsin shrunk by 28 percent over the past six years. Enrollments in programs in Michigan and Illinois shrunk by nearly 50 percent. Linda Darling-Hammond, head of the national Learning Policy Institute, said the downward trends would continue until policies affecting teachers changed and public perception of teachers improved.

District awarded funds to increase student fitness

Milwaukee Public Schools received a $250,000 award over a three-year period to provide more physical education classes for district students. The district received the award from the Medical College of Wisconsin’s (MCW) Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment. In addition to working with MCW, the district will work with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Marquette University, and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association to improve students' current fitness levels and to teach them lifetime fitness habits.

District cancels international trips for 2015-2016 school year

In December 2015, officials from the Milwaukee school district announced that they had canceled international student trips for the 2015-2016 school year. The district also canceled student travel to Washington, D.C. in 2015. The officials listed terror concerns as their reason for the cancelations. Approximately six trips were affected, including an annual trip to Denmark that students from Golda Meir, a school for gifted and talented students, had taken for over 20 years.

The district released the following statement about the cancellations:

“	On November 23, 2015, the United States Department of State issued a Travel Alert due to worldwide terror attacks in countries including France and Denmark through February 24, 2016. Due to these heightened safety concerns, MPS is regrettably cancelling all foreign student travel for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year. Safety is always our primary concern when students are in our care. We are disappointed these trips cannot take place and share the frustration of our students, families and staff. We are also aware that cancellation deadlines are approaching for some trips and wanted to make sure families could recover most, if not all, of their deposits. The district is working to find alternative experiences for students. Out-of-state field trips will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. All Washington, D.C. travel for students and staff has been cancelled for the remainder of 2015. We will re-evaluate travel to Washington, D.C. in early 2016. We want our students to have robust, out-of-the-classroom experiences. But we also feel an obligation to make sure they are safe. We will continue to monitor federal guidelines on travel and hope we can resume educational travel experiences for our students and staff as soon as possible.	”
—Milwaukee Public Schools officials (December 2015)

Parents of students from Golda Meir School who were supposed to go to Denmark decided to continue the trip despite the district's cancelation. They raised funds through fundraisers and auctions to come up with the required $1,800 per person. Prior to the cancelation, students had raised thousands of dollars, but those funds were deposited with the district. Since the trip was canceled, those funds could not be accessed.

Parents said canceling the international trips reinforced fear and took away what might be the only opportunity a student had to see the world. “Having an open mind and learning to be accepting of other cultures sets these kids up for success in the future,” said Ricky Francis, father of a daughter who traveled to Denmark.

Educators speak out at budget hearings

Hundreds of protesters joined Wisconsin lawmakers at the second of four public hearings on Gov. Scott Walker's proposed state budget on March 20, 2015. The protesters spoke out against the proposed funding cuts to education.

“It doesn’t matter what city we’re leading. It doesn’t matter the size of the district. What we’re talking about are students. We’re talking about children,” said Milwaukee Superintendent Darienne Driver.

The budget meeting was held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The group Parents for Public Schools requested an extension for the meeting to allow parents and educators a chance to join after school hours, but the Joint Finance Committee did not respond to their request. Milwaukee educators, parents, and students entered the meeting together at 4:30 p.m. to express their concerns about funding cuts to public education.

The first public hearing on the proposed state budget, held on March 18, 2015, also drew hundreds of attendees.

The Milwaukee school district expected to lose more than $12 million if the proposed budget had been passed. The final budget signed by Walker on July 12, 2015, did not cut education funding in the state, instead keeping it flat for the 2015-2016 school year. The 2016-2017 school year saw a $69 million increase in funds. Under the new budget, school districts did not have the ability to increase spending.

New superintendent appointed

Dr. Darienne Driver was appointed the new superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools in October 2014, after serving as interim superintendent for three months. Driver is the district's first permanent female superintendent. She replaced Dr. Gregory Thornton, who left the district in July 2014 to serve the Baltimore City Public School System.

Driver first joined the district in July 2012. She served as the chief innovation officer—the first to hold such a role in the district—before taking on the position of interim superintendent. Before coming to Milwaukee, Driver served as the deputy chief of empowerment schools for the School District of Philadelphia.

Debate over the fate of empty school buildings

Funding flaw

Milwaukee Public Schools has a number of empty school buildings and interested buyers, but what sounds like an easy solution for both parties was at odds with a so-called "funding flaw" that made the district wary of selling. Though the funding flaw was corrected, the district is still dealing with the effects. The district's refusal to sell its buildings ultimately attracted attention from the state. Republican lawmakers twice tried to pass a bill that would have required the city of Milwaukee to sell unused Milwaukee Public Schools property to non-district operators. They succeeded on their third attempt when they added a law within the 2015-2017 state budget.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett

The empty school building dilemma has been going on for some years. In 2014, St. Marcus Lutheran School, a private voucher school in Milwaukee looking to expand, offered to pay the district $880,000 for one of its empty buildings. Though the offer was equal to the appraised value of the building, Mayor Tom Barrett countered with a deal that would have required St. Marcus to pay around $1.3 million over the next 10 years for the building. The increased price would have helped cover the cost of vouchers the city's taxpayers would have had to pay over the next decade for students attending St. Marcus. The school's administrators declined the deal, claiming that the school brought a net benefit to taxpayers. In August 2014, St. Marcus announced a deal to lease space not owned by Milwaukee Public Schools in order to open an early childhood education center.

The dispute between private voucher school and public school district lay in a "funding flaw." If the district had sold a building, St. Marcus would have been able to broaden its enrollment, and more students might have left Milwaukee Public Schools to attend the private voucher school. The decrease in enrollment in the district would then have meant less state funding, which was a problem the district had been dealing with for several years. Between 2008 and 2015, student enrollment decreased by 11 percent. The district's 2010-2011 report card said the decrease in enrollment was in large part due to the city's school voucher program.

Because the district is responsible for paying a portion of per-pupil vouchers, the district would have had to pay more money to schools like St. Marcus, even if it had less money coming in. This "funding flaw" was corrected when state lawmakers expanded the voucher program statewide in the 2013-2015 state budget, but it is a correction that will take years to come to fruition. The disadvantage to Milwaukee Public Schools and the city's taxpayers will be corrected in 10 to 12 years time, but until then, the district is trying to avoid placing a larger tax burden on the city's residents.

The district did find one way to avoid selling buildings to private voucher schools. It approved plans to turn one vacant school into a three-part space, including a renovated, International Baccalaureate school, low-income apartments, and a commercial space. To do so, developers would have bought the building and made the renovations. Then the district would have leased back the reopened school, paying back the developers for the renovations. At the end of the lease, the district would have paid a single $1 to buy the school. Though the plans were on track to have the newly renovated school open in the fall of 2015, very little progress was made the year after the deal was approved in the fall of 2013. In September 2014, the district severed ties with its developer. Instead of building a new International Baccalaureate school, the district announced plans to move an existing middle school into the empty building in the fall of 2016, after renovating the school on its own. The move was expected to cost the district $100,000.

In response to the failed development plan, the Milwaukee Common Council approved new ordinances to allow the council to sell or lease unused Milwaukee Public Schools buildings. The council had previously been given this power from the Wisconsin State Legislature, but the new ordinances created a process to solicit and evaluate proposals for city-owned buildings.

2015-2017 state budget

In July 2015, the Wisconsin State Legislature passed the 2015-2017 state budget. With it, a law to expedite the process of selling Milwaukee's empty school buildings was also passed. The law set up a sales process that included deadlines for when buildings had to be sold. It required the empty buildings be put on the market by October 2015, but the city of Milwaukee said it was prevented from following this deadline by the law itself.

The law gave Milwaukee's superintendent and the commissioner of the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP) 60 days to submit letters of intent for the buildings. After those 60 days were up, charters schools and vouchers schools outside of the district's jurisdiction were supposed to have a chance to submit their own letters of intent for the buildings. Because a commissioner had not been appointed for the new OSPP by October 2015, the city said it was prevented from moving forward. “The bottom line is the clock does not start running until the commissioner is named. That’s how the city attorney’s office reads the statute,” said Milwaukee City Clerk Jim Owczarski.

Not everyone agreed with the city's take on the new law. C.J. Szafir, an associate counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said the city's position on the law did not make sense. “The law isn’t written as clearly as it could be, but its intention is clear. It’s designed to sell the unused and underutilized buildings and do so expeditiously,” Szafir said. According to Szafir, the commissioner would not be able to buy any of the buildings even if there was a commissioner. “No funding has been provided for OSPP. It doesn’t have its own budget. It won’t be in any position to purchase anything," he said.

Superintendent Driver submitted her required letter of intent, which expressed interest in the district keeping “all school buildings determined to be ‘eligible school buildings.’” Voucher and charter school operators and nonprofits also filed letters of intent. Owczarski said the city clerk's office had the letters on file and would be prepared to move forward with them once a commissioner had been appointed and given 60 days. In January 2016, Commissioner Demond Means said he had no intention of acquiring any of the district's empty buildings.

In March 2015, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty submitted a letter to the city clerk's office questioning Driver's appeal and demanding the city begin negotiations with the qualified organizations that had submitted letters of interest. The organization threatened to sue the city if officials did not comply with the law.

“	The intent of the statute was to remove unused and underutilized school buildings from the control of MPS. It would not make sense to allow MPS or the superintendent to retain control of these properties by attempting to acquire them in lieu of the ‘education operators’ expressly defined in the statute. Nor would it make any sense to allow MPS to delay or frustrate the purchase of an eligible building by an education operator by asserting that MPS is a competitive bidder.	”
—Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (March 2015)

MPS spokesperson Tony Tagliavia disagreed with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty's take on the law. He said, "The law clearly gives the superintendent the authority to submit a letter of interest.” Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley, however, said the school district could not be considered an educational operator under the new law. He also said it was a "poorly written statute," and that it contained contradictory language. He told the city zoning committee that the city could be sued if it did not begin selling school buildings. The deadline to negotiate sales was April 25, 2016.

Approving education operators

On April 12, 2016, the zoning committee recommended that the Milwaukee Common Council approve education operators in order to determine who could buy the buildings. The committee also recommended that the council set up a review committee for sale proposals.

The Milwaukee Common Council ended the debate over the buildings when it followed through on the zoning committee's recommendations on April 15, 2016. The council approved five private and charter schools as education operators, enabling them to buy the school district's surplus buildings. It also passed a measure to create a school building proposal review committee.

Nik Kovac

Milwaukee District 3 Alderman Nik Kovac, who was re-elected just weeks before the meeting, voted in favor of the measures, but he voiced his frustration with the position the Common Council had been put in. "This is an extremely poorly written state statute. They’ve clearly established that up is down by claiming that the largest education operator in the state is not an education operator," said Kovac. He also said he was "extremely frustrated that state legislators saw this as the solution to its problems.”

Tagliavia also voiced frustration at the district's situation. “We are disappointed and concerned that this latest development may limit our ability to continue to grow programs with a track record of success that families in our community are seeking,” he said. “Moving forward, our goal and our concern is retaining the ability to continue our strategic, planned growth of successful programs.”

The Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty issued a statement after the vote that said, "We are glad to see the city do its job."

Study by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released a study in March 2017 that said that the city of Milwaukee had violated the law to expedite the sale of unused Milwaukee Public Schools properties. The study showed 40 Milwaukee Public School properties were vacant or underused and said that five of those 40 buildings were for sale, though there was interest from potential buyers for other buildings.

"With a struggling Milwaukee educational system and interest from charter and voucher schools, city officials would rather see them empty than put to good use and filled with kids," said C.J. Szafir, vice president for policy and deputy council of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

Officials from Milwaukee Public Schools and the Milwaukee Department of City Development said the study was misleading and pointed to errors such as listing one school district property as being at 55 percent capacity when it was at 99.6 percent capacity.

"We absolutely assert that the City of Milwaukee is following the law as it was written," said Milwaukee Department of City Development Deputy Commissioner Martha Brown.

Michael Bonds, member of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, said the push to sell the district's buildings was like “asking the Coca-Cola Company to turn over its facilities to Pepsi so Pepsi can expand and compete with the Coca-Cola Company.” His statement alluded to the struggle between public school advocates and school choice advocates in Milwaukee. School choice advocates argue that the school district should sell its unused buildings because many of its students are failing, while public school advocates argue that a number of choice schools do no better and are not held to the same standards.

Contact information

Milwaukee Public Schools
5225 W. Vliet St.
Milwaukee, WI 53208
Phone: (414) 475-8393

See also

• About the district
  • Demographics
    • Higher education achievement
    • Median household income
    • Poverty rate
    • Racial and political demographics
• Leadership
  • Superintendent
  • Board
    • Governing majority
    • School board elections
    • Public participation in board meetings
• Budget
  • Revenues
  • Expenditures
  • Teacher salaries
    • Unions
• Schools in MPS
  • Enrollment
  • District schools
• Academic performance
  • Mathematics and reading proficiency
  • Graduation and dropout rates
• Issues
  • Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program
  • High percentage of teachers leaving Milwaukee area
  • District awarded funds for to increase student fitness
  • District cancels international trips for 2015-2016 school year
  • Educators speak out at budget hearings
  • New superintendent appointed
  • Debate over the fate of empty school buildings
• See also
  • Contact information
  • External links
  • References

Wisconsin	School Board Elections	News and Analysis
List of school districts in Wisconsin School board elections in Wisconsin Public education in Wisconsin	Milwaukee Public Schools 2015 • 2017	School board election data analysis, 2024 United States school shootings, 1990-present

External links

Suggest a link

• Milwaukee Public Schools
• City of Milwaukee
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
• Wisconsin Association of School Boards
• Milwaukee Teachers Education Association

Footnotes