MPS’ Defective Board
Seriously… the members of the MPS school board look like a bunch of buffoons.
The Milwaukee School Board won’t explore plans to dissolve the district but will instead push forward with an examination of the district’s gloomy financial picture.
That was the message of a 7-1 vote Thursday in which the board told Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent William Andrekopoulos to develop financial projections for what the schools will face over the next three years.
But board member Terry Falk, who made the proposal and who chairs the budget committee, offered this summary of what he thinks the projections will show:
“I’m saying flat out that unless we change the (state) funding formula, we will be broke in about three years,” Falk said. “In about three years, the whole thing collapses.”
If Falk already knows the answer, then why spend the time and money of the projections?
The whole board is running around pointing fingers at everyone else instead of offering solutions. Why are these folks elected if all they can do is sit on their hands and complain?
This story does a great job of showing just how inept the school board is. In the very same story that they give dire predictions of the financial collapse of the entire district, they pass spending increases for things that have absolutely nothing to do with educating kids:
In other action, the board voted 7-2 to offer benefits such as health insurance to domestic partners of nonunionized MPS employees and put the board on record in favor of doing that for all employees.
[...]
Without discussion, the board also approved providing about $450,000 over the next three years toward bringing to MPS teachers involved in Teach for America, an organization that recruits college graduates to teach for at least two years in high-needs school districts.
They claim that the domestic partner benefits are “revenue neutral.” That’s not true unless nobody takes advantage of them. You can’t add benefits for additional people for nothing.
If Milwaukee had any sense, they’d throw the entire school board out of office and get people in there who are willing to do the job responsibly.
If Milwaukee had any sense, they’d throw the entire school board out of office and get people in there who are willing to do the job responsibly.
No offense meant Owen but, this is about as profound as Rodney King’s “Why can’t we all just get along?”
This is a large part of the systemic problem. The only people that seem to really care live outside of MPS.
I often equate it to inner city violence/crime/murder. If you don’t care enough to do anything about this on your own block, why would you expect someone from the neighboring area to ride in and save the day?
I have talked to former reform board members and Howard Fuller, and don’t get the impression they were overwhelmed with support from conservatives. Nobody in their right mind would run for school board in the MPS district and that includes those who say, “Throw the bums out and get some good people in there.” Go ahead, run, get elected, see how “easy” it is. See how much supoprt you get from “Keyboard Conservatives.”
You proclaim the same thing about Germantown, West Bend, and maybe others. We probably agree on most things but in reality you are just howling at the moon at this issue.
If MPS disolved, it might take a while for anyone to really notice, expept for keyboard conservatives who like to use it as a punching bag.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 27, 2008 at 1008 hrs
You can complain about it John - but the fact is that MPS school board is inept. Look at these votes - it’s not like they are even close.
If something is broke you try to fix it. Obviously the people on the MPS school board have no vision at all. They are simply acting as administrators (and poor ones at that.)
What other option would you suggest other than replacing or dissolving the board?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 27, 2008 at 1038 hrs
Owen, the Teach for America vote was a very good one. It is a matching part of a $1million donation to bring these teachers in. It’s a great program that I have first hand knowledge of. so you were wrong on that.
As far as the rest, MPS is a diaster zone. It is bloated with employees and fa. they, for most part do a terrible of teaching and then blame the community for their failures. It is bogged down with favoritism, charletons and frauds. While there are some hard working employees, there are also employees there who aren’t worth anything.
Falk is right about the district collapsing except for 1 thing- it already has collapsed.Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 27, 2008 at 1206 hrs
Dan,
The Teach for America program may be great, but given the fact that the board is warning of a financial collapse of MPS, should they be spending the money on anything not mandatory? No, they shouldn’t. I think that buying a new gun for myself would be a great idea, but if I’m teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, I should skip that expense.
Posted by Owen on September 27, 2008 at 1225 hrs
Bill, I am not complaining about MPS I am complalinging about the complainers. Replace the board. Go ahead but with who? If nobody cares enough to vote out these guys who are you going to run and vote in? That is your solution. Go ahead. Eliminate the board and replace them with what?
That is your so called solution, Even if you put your money/time/effort where your mouth is, you are the Nurse Ratched in the Cuckoos nest only with no power or support.
My “complaint” is with those who make statements without thinking them through. If something is broke and you can only make it worse-you stay behind your keyboard where you can sound profound and offer nothing of substance. Keep typing Bill…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 27, 2008 at 1238 hrs
I agree with you, Owen, on Teach for American. Dan and I had this out at my blog a couple of weeks ago. The fact is, Kern’s million could have gone to one of the programs that currently costs MPS nothing but prepares non-ed majors and career-changers to be teachers as a career, not as a line on their resumes.
Also, note that the change to include domestic partner benefits covers only non-unionized employees—it will affect barely a handful of people.
However, I will ask you to put some money where your mouth is: When you say “get people in there who are willing to do the job responsibly,” how do you define “responsibly”? What would you have the board do differently?
And the same to Dan: Where’s the fat? What do you cut? Be specific.
Posted by folkbum on September 27, 2008 at 1414 hrs
I define “responsibly” as not predicting the fiscal collapse of the organization and then voting to spend money on “wants” instead of “needs” at the very same meeting.
As for specifics, the largest expense is the teachers and staff. The difficulty is that many of the schools in MPS are crappy places to work for teachers. I would dismantle the current wage schedule based on tenure and education and pay a hefty premium for working in the more challenging schools. That would help thwart the migration of more experienced teachers into the cushier schools.
I would toss the pension plan and go to a 401k with a match. Obviously, those already in the pension system could reap the benefits already paid for.
I would get rid of the residency rule.
I would put the health insurance contract out to bid and not give it to WEA Trust unless they were truly the least expensive.
I would make teachers contribute more to their health insurance.
I would close and consolidate some of the schools and sell them (this would also increase the property tax base). The district has lost thousands of kids in the past few years. There are plenty of wasted rooms.
I would privatize and contract out all job functions not related to education, if that proved to be less expensive. Cafeteria services, janitorial services, grounds keeping, etc.
I would break the district up into several smaller districts. A smaller size would make it more nimble and responsive, even though it would add some overhead to the overall system.
I would evaluate the curriculum and eliminate non-core classes. I adhere to the belief that primary education should be to provide a solid core of education for people to be able to live a productive life and participate fully in society even if they never get a secondary education. As such, classes like the higher maths (yes, I took calculus in High School and have never used it), cultural studies, etc. should be eliminated or scaled back. In their place, I would insert more history, economics, and civics.
I would eliminate trips by board members to Philadelphia :zzdeadhorse:
You and I both know that many problems at MPS are due to the overall decline of Milwaukee, but many of the problems are directly due to MPS’ own bad decisions.
Posted by Owen on September 27, 2008 at 1533 hrs
I think that is a great plan Owen. Seriously.
Now all that you need is to get elected by apathetic MPS voters who probably hate your plan already. Then you need 6 other like minded board members and an army. A weather vane would be helpful, to determine which direction the wind is blowing-so you can piss into it.
You have obviously never worked with unions or parents who will awaken only when you plan to close their school. Well, we all can fantisize…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 27, 2008 at 1804 hrs
Well, it would be difficult to get elected to the board given that I live in West Bend.
I didn’t suggest that any of this would be easy.
Posted by Owen on September 27, 2008 at 1806 hrs
West Bend might qualify as the “at large” seat.
You could also move to Milw. to demonstrate your concern and commitment.
None of this would be easy but most of it would be impossible. For example, WEAC would give you the lowest bid and stick it to another district(s) for that year. Then, they would approve every claim so that at the end of the year you had massive cost overruns. With MPS they may play this closer to the vest because it is the biggest fish in the $tate.As much as I like Tom Barrett personally, and as much as I think he is weak in leadership and vision, his suggestion to take over MPS had a lot of merrit. Doubtful he would have adopted most of your plan but maybe some of it. Also, it would stop the ping pong game of reformer majority vs WEAC majority.
What we need is a benevolent dictator to take over MPS. If I could pick it would be Howard Fuller. He appeared to be the most dedicated to saving the district by moving it back to it’s core mission-results oriented education. If No Child Left Behind remains unchanged someone will take MPS over, either the state or the feds. This could be a good thing depending on who takes it over.
There are many items in your plan that would bring lawsuits claiming they violate state law. You would be fighting the lawsuits with tax dollars (ours) and the union would be fighting with union dues. Who would cry uncle first?
Owen, the only way your fantasy can come true is if the whole system goes bankrupt. All contracts can be renegotiated and the whole game changes. In my humble opinion, the sooner the board puts them into bankruptcy the less kids we loose to crappy education. How is that for a theroy?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 27, 2008 at 1844 hrs
It might be a “great plan,” Owen, but it comes from a base of, for lack of a better word, misinformation:
• WEA Trust does not provide our insurance; we are self-funded with the cheapest bidder (Aetna) as our administrators. And, despite teachers’ surrendering a lot in our insurance packages over the last eight years, not one penny of the “savings dividend” that was promised to us has materialized.
• Teachers are in a pension system by state law through the Wisconsin Retirement System, and MPS cannot opt out without a change in state law.
• MPS has closed more than 20 schools in the last five years.
• Non-core classes are already disappearing—and in my current school as well as the last school I worked in, students are running out of classes to take because the electives are gone and core classes don’t fill the day. Elementary students are getting gym once a week, music once a week if they’re lucky, and foreign language in high school (and that, only Spanish in most schools—good luck getting a job as a French teacher anymore).
• As much as people have been harping on “trips” or whatever, the fact is that in no other field would you demand that workers and leaders shut themselves out from conferences in their field or places to share and explore best practices. Maybe one or two idiots blew off something—and if they did, they should be punished—but the reaction demands that MPS isolate itself from the rest of the world.Just about the only thing I agree with you on is eliminating residency.
Finally, splitting up the district will not address the problem. MPS isn’t “failing” because it’s not nimble; MPS is failing because districts and schools with high concentrations of students in poverty fail. This is almost universally true in every urban and rural area in the country, and the exceptions are unique and unreplicable—believe me, MPS has chased every hot reform for as long as anyone I know can remember with no different results. Splitting the districts in to N pieces just means creating N (maybe N-1, allowing for the East Side and Bay View) failing districts and no better solutions to the pervasive problems of urban education.
Posted by folkbum on September 27, 2008 at 2006 hrs
• WEA Trust does not provide our insurance; we are self-funded with the cheapest bidder (Aetna) as our administrators. And, despite teachers’ surrendering a lot in our insurance packages over the last eight years, not one penny of the “savings dividend” that was promised to us has materialized.
Good! I admit that I was guessing on that one. I hope that they put it out to bid every year.
• Teachers are in a pension system by state law through the Wisconsin Retirement System, and MPS cannot opt out without a change in state law.
I know. Change it.
• MPS has closed more than 20 schools in the last five years.
Good. Close more.
• Non-core classes are already disappearing—and in my current school as well as the last school I worked in, students are running out of classes to take because the electives are gone and core classes don’t fill the day. Elementary students are getting gym once a week, music once a week if they’re lucky, and foreign language in high school (and that, only Spanish in most schools—good luck getting a job as a French teacher anymore).
If core classes don’t fill the day, then add more core classes.
• As much as people have been harping on “trips” or whatever, the fact is that in no other field would you demand that workers and leaders shut themselves out from conferences in their field or places to share and explore best practices. Maybe one or two idiots blew off something—and if they did, they should be punished—but the reaction demands that MPS isolate itself from the rest of the world.
This was a tongue in cheek reference to recent events. I agree that conferences have value (occasionally). I was at one this week and will be at another in a few weeks. But serious evaluation should be given to the value before sending anyone. Furthermore, serious evaluation should be given to the people chosen to go.
But isn’t it nice to have a discussion about actual ideas rather than “we don’t know what the hell to do but complain that we don’t have enough money!?!?!?”
Posted by Owen on September 27, 2008 at 2038 hrs
Owen, do you think the board doesn’t talk about these things? Of course it does. Tune in some night. But of course those conversations don’t make the paper. It is easy enough to sit back and criticize a board that is required to do far too much with far too few resources. It is another thing entirely to actually try to manage those demands and resources.
Your answers amount to what the board has already tried or considered, or else a contradictory mess: You know what “more core classes” means, right? Higher maths (and similar) against which you’ve already railed. And don’t get me started on how much all this “close more schools” nonsense directly contradicts the demands from a lot of the same people for “more choices” in the district!
Posted by folkbum on September 27, 2008 at 2120 hrs
Owen, do you think the board doesn’t talk about these things? Of course it does.
Great, but talking and doing are universes apart. In the end, what they do matters much more than what they discuss.
It is easy enough to sit back and criticize a board that is required to do far too much with far too few resources.
Bullshit. MPS spends over $10k per kid. There’s plenty of money.
Folkbum, seriously, what MPS is doing is a quantifiable failure. Sitting around saying “well, there’s nothing we can do” illustrates what’s wrong with the district.
Tell me… what are your ideas? Do any of them include spending less money?
Posted by Owen on September 27, 2008 at 2129 hrs
Owen, I have put forward my ideas frequently and repeatedly, ideas for both svaing money and improving. A sampling (I’m not going to dig up the links):
Instead of small, go big—the Milwaukee County Public Schools. This will allow for 1) better integration by class, which is a key factor in improving poor students’ test scores; 2) an ability to concentrate stronger resources (those suburban schools must be doing something right, eh?) into more challenging areas of the county; 3) lower overall per-student cost (just the drop in the special-ed ratio will cut costs dramatically, not to mention economies of scale for things as diverse as health care and paper purchasing).
I’ve suggested moving all county employees—including MPS—into a single health care buying pool, which could save millions.
I’ve suggested that (if we’re going to start breaking the law, as you want us to in some areas) we fire every person associated with No Child Left Behind and our district’s DIFI status who is not in the classroom. That money can either go into the classroom or into tax savings.
I’ve suggested that the district forgo the “small schools” crap and stop duplicating administrative structures multiple times in a single building.
I have suggested that the federal government fulfill its 30-year-old promise to fund the special education mandates we are forced to comply with (and just recently lost a lawsuit over and will have to spend even more money to comply with).
I’ve suggested that Kern (who’s partially funding Teach for America) would help the schools more by doing what Zilber is doing and investing in the community. Restore stability and jobs and families within the community, and you make the children of that community easier and cheaper to teach. And Kern’s money would not be enough; if we want to do it right, we’d need hundreds of case workers who could identify (through court, school, police, and other records—like who gets evicted, who doesn’t pay their electric bills and so on) the worst families and get them the job training, rehab, parenting classes, adult literacy services, and health care that they need to become stable forces in their neighborhoods. Again, change Milwaukee, change MPS.
I have suggested the MPS principals start doing their jobs and force bad teachers into the TEAM program—which mentors the salvageable and fires the hopeless—instead of letting bad teachers stay for years past their primes.
And, of course, I have repeatedly suggested the end to the voucher program, which drives MPS’s per-student spending higher by leaving us with more of the students who are more difficult (and expensive) to teach. This is true in special education, especially; MPS has about 20% special education and the voucher schools almost 0%.
None of these by itself is a silver bullet. But doing some or all of them would both save money and improve educational quality within MPS.
Posted by folkbum on September 28, 2008 at 0918 hrs
Folkbum: now that is a plan that has something for everyone. The likes of Zilber and others might find it worth investing in MPS if some of these things started happening. We have had people in our district tempted to donate cash and resources but have held back because they have not seen basic management or leadership.
I am no fan of No Child Left Behind, for perhaps different reasons than yours, but would you return the money from this program for the personnel you propose to cut?
Also, special ed is an area where most people not associated with school districts have no clue as to the impact on a school district, in costs, overhead and resources. I might even suggest that the special ed component be part of the voucher program as opposed to eliminating choice altogether.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 28, 2008 at 1057 hrs
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