Alan Borsuk wrote this past weekend about the ongoing will he or won’t he saga of Milwaukee Public School (MPS) superintendent Gregory Thornton. I call it a saga because rumors of the eventual departure of Thornton have been prevalent since pretty much day one of his tenure. I suppose that’s a good thing, if people are coming after your guy your guy must be doing something right.
I’ll leave my opinions on Thornton’s legacy for if and when he leaves the district. I am more interested in a particular question posed by Borsuk on Sunday:
“Does Gov. Scott Walker want to use the energy and political capital it would take to put some or all of MPS under some form of new control created by him and the Legislature?”
First, they are inherently less democratic. Publicly elected school boards have electoral accountability. While a mayoral-run district does have some electoral accountability, it is by definition diffused. There is a big difference between being able to hold a neighborhood official accountable just for your schools than being able to hold a big-city mayor accountable for schools when he or she represents the entire city and has any number of issues for which he or she is responsible.
Could there be times when the potential positive impact of a governance change makes the loss of democracy acceptable? Maybe. Arguably the extreme case of post-Katrina New Orleans is an example of such a time. However, all things equal I am going to err on the side of democracy.
Second, Wisconsin’s Act 10 empowered school boards to make personnel and financial decisions that were formerly off-limits. Getting rid of the MPS board, particularly after their aggressive use of Act 10 to change their fiscal trajectory in the near-term, is illogical. Pro-Act 10 arguments are undermined if the Governor suddenly decides to change MPS’ governance structure.
Third, the track records of governance reforms are a mixed bag. Wong, Shen, Anagnostopoulos, and Rutledge found in their 2007 book, The Education Mayor, that mayoral governance can lead to significant academic gains. However the circumstances matter; in particular a willing mayor, proper timing and the right partnerships between stakeholders are important. Milwaukee had a willing mayor in its attempt at reform, but the timing and level of community buy-in could not have been worse. As the WPRI polling shows, timing and potential for community buy-in will be an ongoing obstacle to this type of reform in Milwaukee.
Alan Borsuk is likely right that the post-Thornton MPS will look much like MPS today. And I have heard no one, including MPS, argue that the district’s current position is acceptable. Hence it is easy to see why well-meaning people want a major governance reform. But until we have community buy-in as to what public education in Milwaukee should look like I suspect any major attempt at governance reform will fail.
And that’s too bad. The longer we (myself included) indulge in the distractions of technical minutia like funding flaws the longer we will go without a coherent approach to public education in Milwaukee that can actually gain buy-in and yield results.
There is another new study out from the Forward Institute that focuses on school choice. There is a whole lot I could write about this thing but I am going to focus on the way in the authors’ describe voucher funding.
On page 40 they write:
“For analysis purposes, it was necessary to adopt a consistent measure of cost per student. We chose to use the state aid per student amount based on the following facts….For the 2009-13 school years, the maximum state aid per student to schools participating in the MPCP program was $6,442. By contrast, MPS per student state aid in 2010-11 was $8,322.”
First off there is no good rationale for solely comparing state aid in a study that purports to explore the connection between money and education. State aid is a property tax issue. If you want to make the connection between funding and performance you would look at total revenues, or, at the very least total state and local revenues determined by the state funding formula. This methodology is like comparing the wealth of two people by how much money each has in their checking accounts while ignoring their savings accounts. Sure it’s a comparison of something, but it misses the point.
Second the state support figure used for students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is $6,442. This is the same approach used by Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts earlier this year. Mayor Barrett and Milwaukee taxpayers shouldn’t get too excited, the choice program is not 100% supported by the state. As I wrote back in January:
What is even stranger is that the authors actually explain that Milwaukee taxpayers cover a significant portion of the cost of the MPCP, but continue to make the faulty comparison. I lay out a much better (in my opinion) method for comparing funding here: http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=2140.
The report goes on to make a whole bunch of claims about the lack of fiscal transparency in the MPCP, citing the 2000 LAB Audit of the MPCP as its source for those claims. But since 2000 the fiscal scrutiny placed on the MPCP has increased greatly; 2003 Act 155 completely transformed the program’s fiscal regulatory framework. Not mentioning Act 155 is a huge omission.
I have not had a chance to go through everything in this report, but at the very least the treatment of choice funding raises a huge red flag about any conclusions made regarding public support and performance in the MPCP.
The past few months have given us the GOP war on women, my personal war with backyard rabbits, the IRS’ war on conservative non-profits, and now the Wisconsin GOP’s war on Milwaukee. Can we cool it with the “war on” talk? It has become a bad cliché.
I wrote recently that I do not think Scott Walker hates Milwaukee. I still believe that. Before Walker was elected I thought it was great that two Milwaukee area executives were running for Governor. During the Act 10 drama I was convinced that Walker’s experience running a local government was a major factor in his desire to curtail collective bargaining. I am still convinced of that.
However, there is something rotten about the relationship between the Wisconsin GOP and Milwaukee. I won’t call it a war, but a disconnect. The most obvious disconnect is ideological. The party in control in Madison has no political base in Milwaukee; it is not surprising or disturbing that when the interests of urban areas clash with those of suburban and rural areas, the interests of the GOP’s core constituency wins out.
But try to imagine the from Milwaukee. Despite its popular support, the city of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), both large middle-class employers, view school vouchers as a threat. The Governor is seeking to expand this threat, which is naturally perceived as an attack on Milwaukee.
Or consider the residency rule. Tom Barrett worries that it will cause middle-class residents to leave the city. MPS has already modified its residency rule, in an act of local control, to allow more time for new teachers to move to the city. It’s easy to see the residency rule as an attack on personal freedom, but the mayor and others have a legitimate interest in maintaining a middle-class tax base. Hence, we have another attack on Milwaukee’s self-determination.
And of course the streetcar. Suburban interests have a legitimate fear that they will end up paying for the thing in one way or another. But Milwaukee institutions (and many residents) view the streetcar as a next logical step forward for the City of Milwaukee. It is not surprising at all that efforts to kill the streetcar, whatever its merits, based on technicalities is seen by many as outside meddling for the sake of meddling.
I am an urbanist at heart and admit I have a strong bias towards the City of Milwaukee. It is where I live. But even an unbiased observer can see that the disconnect between Milwaukee and the GOP is more than just whining by the Mayor. It is the product (among other things) of an unhealthy political reality that makes our urban areas, at least in terms of elected representation, politically homogeneous places.
Whose fault is this political homogeneity? I don’t know and I don’t really care. Even without an urban constituency the state GOP still has an economic and cultural interest in creating pro-urban policies.
Milwaukee is not some black hole. It is as place where over 10% of the state’s population resides. It is true Milwaukee receives a good amount of state resources. However, the distribution of state dollars to Milwaukee is not absurdly out of whack given its size. For example, in 2012 MPS received 13% of all state equalization aid while enrolling 10% of all public school students.
I suppose this is a long-winded way of saying that pitting Milwaukee against the rest of the state is a losing proposition for both sides. Milwaukee is a real place with real people of real importance to all Wisconsinites. It shouldn’t be used as a political football.
You ever find a twenty-dollar bill in an old pair of jeans? What do you do with it? Do you run to the bank and deposit it for a rainy day? Do you buy something you need? Or do you throw caution to the wind and splurge on a 12-pack of Spotted Cow?
The legislature today finds itself in this particular situation. Ok. It did not find some hidden money, but the state is projected to collect $500 million more in revenues than previously expected. The immediate temptation for legislators and advocates is to dust off some favored programs or initiatives and go after that new money. And guess what? That is my temptation too.
The top priority should be an increase in per-pupil revenue limits. It is encouraging that the Governor, Republicans on Joint Finance, and Democrats on Joint Finance are all on the same page as I on this one. The state has empowered school boards with Act 10 to make decisions in areas where their hands were long-tied. Retying their hands with a revenue freeze was, in my opinion, illogical. A substantial increase in per-pupil revenue limits can both ease the pain experienced by school districts in the past couple years and build some goodwill between local and state government.
But what exactly do I mean by substantial increase? The public statements I have seen thus far propose increases between $100 and $275. I think a reasonable increase is an average one. Excluding the 5.5% cut in 2012 the average annual per-pupil revenue limit increase between 1994 and 2013 was $217. I think that number is substantial and achievable.
A $217 per-pupil increase that does not increase property taxes would cost the state $185.6 million (855,327 students X $217) next year. And while we are investing in education, we ought to include similar per-pupil increases for choice and charter. This would add about $7.5 million to the tab.
This is a substantial amount of new spending, but it is not a splurge, it is an investment in the state’s educational infrastructure.
Recently, someone responded to a WPRI blog post about the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) budget situation with the dreaded “so what?” question. The question was understandable, aren’t discussions of the details of education finance a distraction from the important work of educating kids? To answer my own question, no. Here is why.
First, though money may not be directly linked to improved academic outcomes, it certainty matters. Books, teachers, buildings, technology, and other materials necessary for a quality education system do not come free. The way scarce public education funds are distributed to Wisconsin districts and schools impacts the quality of these institutions.
Second, a key pillar of an egalitarian society is equal opportunity. The backbone of Wisconsin’s education finance system is an aid equalization formula designed to ensure districts can have an equitably funded school system no matter their tax base. It is important for Wisconsin’s future to understand if the equalization aid formula is operating as intended to ensure fair funding of education across districts.
Lastly, public budgets allocate public money. K-12 education is our state’s largest investment. I think it incredibly important to know how much of our money is being spent on education, where it is being spent, and how the distribution of public money is determined.
All of these reasons factor into why WPRI authored its latest report, Understanding School Finance in Wisconsin: A Primer. I warn you the report is a little different from our regular fare. I do not make policy recommendations or critiques. Instead I try to explain the ins and outs of education finance in a way that will be useful to policy-makers, education professionals, and Wisconsin citizens. Mostly I try to make the case that Wisconsin’s education finance system is understandable if a few key points are understood. Those points include:
Per-Pupil Revenue Limits: The amount of combined state aid and property tax that can be raised for each student in a school district.
Membership: The official count of the number of students in a district.
General School Aid: The state investment in education.
The Equalization Aid Formula: The formula that determines how school aids are distributed to districts.
Categorical Aid: Funding for specific programs that is not limited by revenue limits.
The understandable tendency to tune out discussions of the minutia of education finance too often allows important questions about our state’s largest investment to go unanswered. My hope is that this report will be used a resource that helps Wisconsinites answer some of these questions. Click here to download the full report.
If school choice is expanded to new municipalities in Wisconsin it will be no small miracle given the nature of the debate thus far. Below are impressions as the next crucial step in the state budget process, Join Finance, begins.
Ignoring of Best Evidence: The past couple week has brought a debate over how exactly Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) scores of students in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program should be compared when judging program effectiveness. It’s a pointless debate because it is not how the effectiveness of the MPCP or any particular school can be judged. WKCE scores tell you nothing about the impact a school or program is actually having on student learning.
This is not to suggest WKCE scores are meaningless. They tell you where students are at, which is important. But if you want to judge the worth of a program such as the MPCP using test scores you need a more sophisticated study that looks at how exactly the program affects test scores for similar students. If only someone had done that.
Oh wait, they have. It was kind of a big deal too. The School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) found (to quote an earlier post):
Statistically significant gains for voucher users in reading compared to matched Milwaukee Public School (MPS) pupils (with the important caveat that the introduction of program wide WKCE testing in the final year of the evaluation could be responsible for some of the gains);
Statistically similar impacts on math test scores for matched MPS and MPCP users;
A modest positive impact on public school tests scores as more private schools participated in the MPCP;
Statewide taxpayer savings, though not in Milwaukee;
Higher graduation rates for voucher users compared to MPS;
Higher rates of four-year college enrollment for voucher users;
Evidence that closed schools in both MPS and the MPCP were the lower performers;
High levels of parental satisfaction;
No impact on housing prices or racial integration;
High rates of school switching;
Wide variation in achievement levels between schools; and
Much much more.
Whether you favor choice expansion or not it makes no logical sense to ignore the SCDP.
The Fiscal Note:New government programs are not free. Even programs that fund students at a lower level than public schools have significant impacts on state education funding. An April 15 Legislative Fiscal Bureau note explained the potential taxpayer and state education aid impact of nine new choice programs in Wisconsin. The reaction was messy, and predictably, created a NIMBY reaction among some legislators.
Flawed Program Design: School choice programs targeted toward failing districts are easy to sell to legislators, but fundamentally flawed. From a logistics standpoint it means advocates begin the local school choice debate by having to convince residents their public schools are bad. That is a losing argument. It also cedes the point that no, school vouchers are not an education reform, but rather a life raft for certain students.
Terrible Back-Up Plans: Don’t want to fund a choice program expansion that costs $6.2 million and will help low- and middle-income students access private schools? Then why not support a $100+ million program to partially offset costs for students already in private schools. There is nothing wrong with a tax-credit program, but it does not belong in the same discussion as voucher expansion.
Over-Dramatization: The state budget allocates $30.6 billion in general purpose revenue. About 0.02% of that is for expansion of the voucher program. I get that it’s a philosophical debate on how best to structure public education, but the outsized attention given to vouchers is almost comical. Early in my career I was struck by how “normal” schools in the Milwaukee choice program were. The further the debate gets from the ground the more ridiculous the arguments seem to get.
I fully realize that these observations are from the peanut gallery and the folks actually working on the ground for and against expansion necessarily approach the issue in a different manner than I. Nonetheless I feel it important to point out that there are good arguments for and against voucher expansion that are being ignored. This is a disservice to the people that will be impacted by expansion.
Finally, if I was a betting man, I’d say some kind of choice expansion happens.
Did you hear Jason Collins is gay? He also plays professional basketball making him the first openly gay athlete in one of the big four American sports. If you have not heard you can be forgiven, after all Tim Tebow was released Monday.
I am not trying to minimize the importance or difficulty of Collins’ decision, but I think the reaction is somewhat indicative of our country’s forward movement on civil rights.
I support gay marriage. I work for a free-market think tank generally thought of as conservative. That may have been a problem in the not-so-distant past, but it is certainly not a problem today (and of course, one must look no further than the passage of Wisconsin’s anti-gay marriage amendment during a Democratic landslide election to see that support for gay marriage never broke cleanly along left-right ideological lines in Wisconsin).
I find it interesting that the release of WPRI’s new report on the state of marriage in Wisconsin comes in the same week as Collins’ announcement. The report, written by Christian Schneider, takes no position on gay marriage. He writes:
The purpose of this report is not to document and lament the social devaluing of marriage. Nor is it a defense of “traditional” marriage between a man and woman. Rather, this report demonstrates the negative economic impact of declining marriage rates in Wisconsin and recommends encouraging marriage as a stabilizing economic institution, no matter its form.
This is not Schneider punting; it is a clear statement that this report sets out to identify the economic impact of changes in the institution of marriage in Wisconsin. He presents a strong case that marriage is a powerful positive force in society, arguing that efforts to stabilize the institution are the business of policy-makers.
In reading Schneider’s report I certainly find support for my position that disqualifying a notable chunk of the population from participation in this institution is a mistake for Wisconsin. It’s never made sense to me that a loving couple should be denied the civil institution of marriage. Nor has the issue ever struck me as particularly political.
But whatever your position on marriage equality as it relates to civil rights, the report is a worthy read. Click here to read.
Here at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute we try to focus our research on topics that can increase the quality of life in Wisconsin. A drive along the lakefront of Milwaukee on this gorgeous afternoon served as a reminder that there are a variety of interconnected ways to enhance the quality of life in a community.
Leveraging of natural resources: Lake Michigan is a huge asset for Milwaukee and Wisconsin and it is important to credit the past Milwaukeeans who ensured that the lakefront remained accessible and beautiful. Smart planning in the past plays no small part in the vibrancy Milwaukee enjoys today.
The philanthropic community: The Calatrava, Discovery World, and the revitalized Bradford Beach were all made possible by the kindness of Milwaukee’s philanthropic community. Our city and our state are lucky to not only have active philanthropic organizations, but to have policy makers and community groups eager to work with them.
Private enterprise: Private investment has also improved Bradford Beach. The Milwaukee County Parks deserve praise for realizing that something as simple as allowing a private food stand is not enabling corporate interests to profit from the use of public land, but rather a way to leverage private enterprise to improve a public space. And don’t forget about Alterra’s repurposing of the old pumping station. All of this would surely make Jane Jacobs smile.
Public Safety: The presence of the Sheriff’s department at the lakefront today was impossible to miss. Everyone appeared to be getting along with each other, and with the police. The lakefront feels safe and is safe, which is sure to encourage more folks to come enjoy it.
Universities: About every third person I saw was wearing something with a UW-Milwaukee logo on it. Universities bring a lot of tangible things to a city, but the less tangible effects of students simply being around adds something too.
Diversity: Milwaukee may be a segregated city, but the lakefront is not a segregated place. Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Muslims, and others were all out enjoying the day together. No doubt all of the above factors contribute to the diversity of the lakefront.
Yes it was a beautiful day and beautiful sight at Milwaukee’s lakefront this afternoon. It is a vibrant public space because of the hard work of a diversity of actors from government, the philanthropic and non-profit sectors, and private enterprise. There is a lesson to be learned from this: our state can be more livable and more prosperous if we are open to a variety of solutions to today’s policy problems. Sometimes the best way forward is not one way at all.
I had my first chance to read through the new Milwaukee Public School (MPS) budget proposal yesterday, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to trends of the last decade or so, things are definitely looking better for the district.
Most important, MPS is increasing their staffing in key areas next year. Despite all the talk about governance structure the most important place in education is the school itself. MPS is increasing its school level staffing by 120.8 full-time-equivalent employees in FY14. A good number of those positions, 51, are teachers and educational assistants (though on the negative side the federal sequestration is responsible for the loss of 24 title 1 teachers). The district is also adding assistant principals, safety assistants, social workers, and nurse associates in schools. All of this is particularly impressive when overall enrollment is projected to decline 1%.
So how did they do this? A big part is the aggressive action the district has taken to reduce its benefit costs. MPS notes in their budget that their average teacher salary is increasing but their “school operations and categorical benefit” rate will drop to 58.4% from almost 70% just two years ago. Part of this is due to Act 10, and part of this is due to the willingness of MPS to take needed action.
Also interesting is the district’s enrollment projections. As mentioned the overall enrollment is projected to decline by 1%. Enrollment in traditional MPS schools is projected to decline by 3.1%. In contrast, enrollment in MPS non-instrumentality charter schools is projected to increases by 16%, over 1,000 students. Students in MPS non-union charter schools generate about $9,800 per child for the district, yet the district sends the schools only $7,775 per-pupil enrolled (though likely more next year). In other words, it’s a smart financial move for the district to increase enrollment in these schools. The district has quietly made expansion of their non-union charters a priority; their efforts are clearly showing.
There is a heck of a lot more in MPS’ budget, including many questions that cannot be answered until the state budget process is finished. However, there are clear signs that the efforts of the MPS board and administration to financially right the ship are starting to pay off. That’s a huge accomplishment for MPS, and one for which they deserve credit.
As I’ve said over and over, you cannot look at these scores and conclude that the Milwaukee Public Schools have a more positive impact on student learning than schools in the MPCP or vice-versa. But you can look at these scores and conclude that on aggregate Milwaukee students are not being adequately prepared for life after graduation (if they make it to graduation). You can also look at these scores and safely conclude:
1) Solely advocating for vouchers in Milwaukee is not a promising education reform position.
2) The “MPS good – vouchers bad” dichotomy (or vice-versa) is a false one. If you are attending any school in Milwaukee, there is a frighteningly high chance you are not proficient in math and/or reading.
3) The school-level bright spots, though they should be celebrated, are few and far between.
4) On whole what we are doing as city is not working.
None of this changes my position on vouchers, nor will it halt my efforts at correcting and explaining the never-ending stream of misinformation or confusing information about school choice programs (for example, folks should be aware that the comparisons used in DPI’s press release differ from previous years due to the change in MPCP program eligibility, I will touch on this in the near future). Lest you call me obtuse, my support for school choice is grounded in two realities:
1) There are many high-performing schools today that would not exist if not for the creation of the MPCP; and
2) 25,000 students as of today are using the MPCP. Flaws and all, the MPCP is a crucial part of Milwaukee’s public education system.
A school voucher is a tool. There is little to suggest that creating a school voucher program will magically raise student achievement. There is also nothing to suggest that ending or defunding the MPCP will increase achievement. Like traditional public schools, the success or failure of a school in a voucher program depends on the situation on the ground. The key question is whether a school voucher program can help get the situation dependent factors right in Milwaukee. I believe, through experience, that it can. But today’s release of test scores show we are getting those factors wrong too often in Milwaukee.
So where does Milwaukee go next? I continue to think that an authorizer-based accountability system utilizing MPS, the MPCP and Milwaukee’s charter sector, is a realistic and logical way for Milwaukee to move forward. But moving forward is a difficult proposition in Milwaukee. The reaction to today’s test score release will be predictable. School choice opponents will claim the program is a failure, school choice supporters will get defensive, politicians will spar over these results making unsupported claims, and eventually, next year, I’ll get to write this piece again.