Two weeks ago the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS) exposed the Neighborhood Schools Initiative (NSI) as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars. A few days alter the Milwaukee Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce (MMAC) and selected voucher advocates met behind closed doors to discuss how to reform the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and Mayor Barrett called for an audit of MPS's finances declaring every option should be explored.
But as Joel McNally and Barbara Miner point out it in two separate articles, the MMAC and MPS voucher advocates, including former Mayor John Norquist, designed and promoted, with the support of the MJS, the NSI, not the current MPS board's leadership.
The MPS Board members who supported the NSI were the very same folks, John Gardner, Bruce Thompson and Jeff Spence, who sold voucher schools as the market solution to the failures of Milwaukee's Public Schools in the early 1990's.
They have now admitted that voucher schools are not the panacea they originally claimed. The Journal ran a series on this a few years ago. But rather than dismantle this multi-million dollar, failed experiment and focus the state's scare educational resources on improving MPS, they now argue Milwaukee has a system of schools which face the common challenge of educating Milwaukee's largely poor and minority children.
In recent articles, the MJS has failed to acknowledge that current the current MPS Board leadership, including its President Peter Blewett, newly elected MPS Finance Chair Michael Bonds and Jennifer Morales were opponents of the NSI and vouchers.
A review of the record suggests that it is politically more palatable to Milwaukee's elites to beat up on this struggling urban school district, scapegoat teachers, their unions, and the elected MPS board of directors, and promote changes in governance than it is to provide MPS with the resources it needs to serve the children who depend on it.
Read Joel McNally and Barbara Miner's columns before you drink the MMAC's latest Kool Aid.
Showing posts with label private school choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label private school choice. Show all posts
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
MPS responds to voucher study!
The Milwaukee Public School District responded to a study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program that was featured prominently in a front page Journal Sentinel article and editorial.
The Journal's editors characterized the report as "groundbreaking" and the findings preliminary, but "tantalizing." But they cautioned against drawing any hard and fast conclusions.
The article was entitled "Voucher study finds parity." But MPS argued that there is no parity in how the private school voucher program is funded. Nor is there parity between MPS and the private schools in providing special education. The MPS release is reprinted in its entirely below:
Voucher school study exposes funding flaws, imbalance in special education
The first findings have been released in a study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program by University of Arkansas researchers in the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP).
What the researchers said about the financial impact of the voucher program – and what they don’t say about special education – is the significant news.
Researchers state that the arrangement for financing voucher schools adversely affects Milwaukee taxpayers.
The State of Wisconsin reimburses just 55% for a voucher student, but provides 73% for an MPS student. "It’s the Milwaukee taxpayer who makes up the difference. Taxpayers in the rest of the state do not share in the cost," explained MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos. "This report once again demonstrates that in essence, there is an extra private school tax that is placed on the residents of Milwaukee."
As a result, Milwaukee taxpayers are paying $54 million this year and will likely have to pay $59 million in private school taxes for the 2008-09 school year. "Funding inequities caused by this program are creating a strain on Milwaukee taxpayers, and we are sensitive to this," said MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos. "The inequities are also causing tough financial choices for the district."
The reports released this week also appear to underestimate the significant differences between MPS and the voucher schools in the area of special education.
Eighteen percent of students (17,300 students) in Milwaukee Public Schools receive special services through Individual Education Plans (IEPs) while MPS data shows that less than 2.5% of voucher school students have Service Plans for students with identified special needs. Service Plans for special needs, private school students are the equivalent of IEPs for students in public schools.
As the lead educational agency for the City of Milwaukee, MPS is required to maintain records for students with special needs in private schools. Current records show that there are 209 active service plans for private school students and another 241 private school students who are eligible for Service Plans but who have opted not to receive services. While there may be students in private schools who have not been formally identified through the Service Plan process, it is likely reasonable to assume that students with the need for more significant assistance are accounted for in this data.
This significant element of MPS student population (the special needs students) is not recognized fully in the study, according to Superintendent Andrekopoulos, who says that it should be. "We’re happy that thousands of families choose us first for special education services and we do a great job with their children in our schools," said Andrekopoulos. "However, special needs students require additional resources, and we’ve had to shift funds to meet these needs. As the enrollments rise in voucher schools, we’ve seen the number of regular education students decrease in MPS while our numbers of higher-cost students in special education have gone up.
This trend is real and it’s a costly one."
The Superintendent said that any long-term view of the voucher program should chart the numbers of special education children in the city, and it should track how their educational needs are met.
For additional information, contact Roseann St. Aubin, MPS Communications Director, at (414) 475-8237.
The Journal's editors characterized the report as "groundbreaking" and the findings preliminary, but "tantalizing." But they cautioned against drawing any hard and fast conclusions.
The article was entitled "Voucher study finds parity." But MPS argued that there is no parity in how the private school voucher program is funded. Nor is there parity between MPS and the private schools in providing special education. The MPS release is reprinted in its entirely below:
Voucher school study exposes funding flaws, imbalance in special education
The first findings have been released in a study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program by University of Arkansas researchers in the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP).
What the researchers said about the financial impact of the voucher program – and what they don’t say about special education – is the significant news.
Researchers state that the arrangement for financing voucher schools adversely affects Milwaukee taxpayers.
The State of Wisconsin reimburses just 55% for a voucher student, but provides 73% for an MPS student. "It’s the Milwaukee taxpayer who makes up the difference. Taxpayers in the rest of the state do not share in the cost," explained MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos. "This report once again demonstrates that in essence, there is an extra private school tax that is placed on the residents of Milwaukee."
As a result, Milwaukee taxpayers are paying $54 million this year and will likely have to pay $59 million in private school taxes for the 2008-09 school year. "Funding inequities caused by this program are creating a strain on Milwaukee taxpayers, and we are sensitive to this," said MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos. "The inequities are also causing tough financial choices for the district."
The reports released this week also appear to underestimate the significant differences between MPS and the voucher schools in the area of special education.
Eighteen percent of students (17,300 students) in Milwaukee Public Schools receive special services through Individual Education Plans (IEPs) while MPS data shows that less than 2.5% of voucher school students have Service Plans for students with identified special needs. Service Plans for special needs, private school students are the equivalent of IEPs for students in public schools.
As the lead educational agency for the City of Milwaukee, MPS is required to maintain records for students with special needs in private schools. Current records show that there are 209 active service plans for private school students and another 241 private school students who are eligible for Service Plans but who have opted not to receive services. While there may be students in private schools who have not been formally identified through the Service Plan process, it is likely reasonable to assume that students with the need for more significant assistance are accounted for in this data.
This significant element of MPS student population (the special needs students) is not recognized fully in the study, according to Superintendent Andrekopoulos, who says that it should be. "We’re happy that thousands of families choose us first for special education services and we do a great job with their children in our schools," said Andrekopoulos. "However, special needs students require additional resources, and we’ve had to shift funds to meet these needs. As the enrollments rise in voucher schools, we’ve seen the number of regular education students decrease in MPS while our numbers of higher-cost students in special education have gone up.
This trend is real and it’s a costly one."
The Superintendent said that any long-term view of the voucher program should chart the numbers of special education children in the city, and it should track how their educational needs are met.
For additional information, contact Roseann St. Aubin, MPS Communications Director, at (414) 475-8237.
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