A lot of eyebrows were raised when the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and the Greater Milwaukee Committee, groups whose boards are filled with many of the region’s top business leaders, opposed the $252 million Milwaukee Public Schools referendum this spring.
The MMAC and GMC typically don’t take a stand on public school referendums and are supportive of education in Milwaukee. But the MPS referendum called for a large property tax increase ($2.16 per $1,000 of valuation) and the MMAC and GMC said MPS provided no clear plan indicating how the tax increase would lead to better performance in educating students.
“This referendum is being brought forward less than five years after passage of an $87 million revenue limit increase without a clear plan on how to improve educational outcomes, even as academic performance continues to be at or near the bottom of all major city school districts. We cannot continue to perpetuate the same strategies and expect different outcomes,” MMAC president Dale Kooyenga said in a letter to MMAC members urging opposition to the referendum.
Supporters of the referendum said it was necessary to prevent massive budget cuts and said the school district had been hamstrung by state-imposed property tax caps and state funding that has not kept pace with inflation.
Voters narrowly approved the MPS referendum in early April. But then in late May, less than two months after the vote, a bombshell dropped with reports that state officials were threatening to suspend funding to MPS because the district had failed to provide financial reports to the state. Some of the reports were more than eight months late.
How could this happen, especially if MPS is so desperate for funding?
The public outcry and media firestorm in response has been severe. MPS superintendent Keith Posley resigned, as did the district’s CFO. The MPS comptroller was fired. It’s clear that MPS leadership has been incompetent, and its finance department understaffed.
And it’s outrageous that the district’s inability to get financial reports submitted to the state wasn’t made public until after the referendum. No chance it would have passed if voters had that information. It will likely be many years before voters approve another tax increase for MPS.
Despite the growth of charter and voucher schools in Milwaukee, MPS remains an important part of the city’s education landscape. About half of Milwaukee school children attend MPS schools.
For the sake of those kids, their families and the entire community – including the business community – MPS needs to do much better.
And rather than get frustrated about this scandal, business leaders need to remain engaged with Milwaukee education issues, supporting and demanding quality schools.
