A summit on the future of Wisconsin’s largest public school district takes place today in Milwaukee. Professor William Velez, one of the panelists for the forum at UW Milwaukee, says the hot button issue of mayoral control of MPS will be one of the topics. Anneliese Dickman, research director for the Public Policy Forum, will be directly addressing the research on other takeovers, and what sort of impact they have had on their districts.
AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:60 MP3)
Another ongoing concern within MPS: the persistent achievement gap. “There’s the issue of what is the performance under MPS guidence of African-American, white and Lation youth,” says Valez.
Velez also says Milwaukee’s struggling property owners, and the Milwaukee Public Schools, are paying the price for a flawed state funding system. On Wednesday, Governor Jim Doyle’s office released memo outlining the MPS proposal, which includes giving the mayor of Milwaukee full hiring and firing authority over the MPS superintendent.
