Posts Tagged ‘MPS’

MacIver News Service | July 29, 2010

[Milwaukee, Wisc...] With a proclamation that student performance was the only rubric that mattered, an optimistic Dr. Gregory Thornton addressed questions Wednesday night regarding his new post as Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.

The veteran administrator pointed to his experience in choice programs and major cities as a major influence on his decision to take the position in Milwaukee. “One of the attractions to Milwaukee was choice. I wanted the zip code not to be the driving factor as to determine whether or not a kid was successful,” said Thornton, whose past experience as Chief Academic Officer in Philadelphia aligned him with the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit, a program similar to Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program. “In this financial crisis that we’re in, the choices that are not good, I need to get them off the menu.”

Thornton, just 20 days into the job, spoke to a packed room at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and discussed the schools’ current problems, as well as his efforts in the battle to bring better educations to local students. 

Thornton initially addressed that he had to “face the brutal facts” of poor reading skills amongst students, economic struggles, and declining populations immediately in his new post. However, with a hand picked staff, the former administrator with experience in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, expressed hope that Milwaukee’s embattled public schools could be turned around. With students as the “hub of the wheel” of education, Thornton laid out three key targets in his mission of reform; student achievement, efficient operation, and student retention.

A common theme of the night was tying the community back into the city’s public schools, as local business and educational leaders often questioned the school system’s current place in the everyday lives of Milwaukeeans. Citing a need for greater community buy-in, Thornton touched on programs that he plans to institute, including an “Under-credentialed, over-aged” program for continuing education to combat high school drop-outs, an increased emphasis on community members filling roles in a more complete curriculum to produce more well rounded and capable students, and sweeping improvements in the lowest-performing public academies in order to help change public perception and bring recognition to the hardest working educators.

When asked if the public would continue to be subjected to a ‘we can’t afford to do this’ line of thought when it came to school reforms, Thornton responded simply “We’re going to hear ‘we can’t afford not to do this’.”

Before leaving, Thornton appealed to the community a final time.

“We have to stop looking at the past and start looking forward as a community for the children. I can’t do this without you. It takes all of us,” Thornton said.

MacIver News Service

[Milwaukee, Wisc…]  Since the federal government began monitoring school performance under the No Child Left Behind Act, the average Milwaukee public school teacher’s total compensation has increased by 55 percent while student test scores have remained stagnant.

Information provided by MPS and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and compiled by the MacIver Institute shows that in 2002, the average MPS teacher made $63,413 in salary and benefits. Next year, the average teacher will make $98,423*.

During this same time period, state aid to MPS has also drastically increased. In 2002, MPS received $515 million. Last year it received $600 million.

Spending per student has also gone up. In 2002, the district spent $6,035 per student. Last year it spent $7,311 per student.

While the spending and compensation for MPS staff has seen steep inclines, that has not been the case with student performance.

Since 2002, student achievement in MPS has fluctuated from year to year. The biggest gains were in 8th grade test scores;  35 percent scored proficient or better in math in 2002, compared to 52.1 percent in 2009. Reading scores in 8th grade went from 56 percent to 64.2 percent.

However, that moderate success did not follow students into high school. Math and reading scores dropped noticeably from the 8th to 10th grade. Among 10th graders math proficiency went up only slightly from 28 percent to 30.4 percent, and reading went from 40 percent to 41.7 percent.

Despite there being no apparent correlation between student achievement and funding,  the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association insists the district needs more funding.

After the district sent 482 teachers layoff notices last month, Pat O’Mahar, MTEA Interim Executive Director, argued “Long-term, we must reform the way Wisconsin funds public schools. The current system is no longer working for kids, families, and school communities throughout the state.”

In the meantime,  President Obama and Wisconsin Democrat Congressman David Obey are pushing for Congress to pass a $23 billion bailout package they say will save 100,000 teachers’ jobs around the country.

Stephen Moore writes in Wall Street Journal that MPS’ contract woes are a microcosm of what’s wrong with education spending across America.

Referencing reporting previously done by MacIver News Service, Moore writes:

“Milwaukee’s experience suggests that the $23 billion bailout fund is meant to provide a federal life raft to keep afloat the unsustainable, gold-plated compensation packages that unions negotiated when states and cities were flush with cash. The citizens of Wisconsin have rejected tax increases to avoid layoffs, and they’re right to have done so.

It is hardly sensible to force taxpayers in Mississippi, Colorado, New Hampshire and elsewhere to step in and save the union’s bacon”

While the drama plays out in Washington, MTEA hopes to convince new MPS superintendent, Dr. Gregory Thornton, to rescind the layoff notices. The district and the teachers’ union are currently negotiating a new contract.

We’ll have continuing coverage of this issue at www.MacIverInstitute.com. See our previous news coverage and analysis of developments at MPS.

*Note the 2010-2011 figures are a recalculation based on anticipated lower health care costs—MPS previously estimated the average teacher’s package for next year would be $100,005.

Click in bottom right hand corner to scroll through the April Check Register

MacIver News Service -[Milwaukee, Wisc...] As the fallout from the passage of its annual budget continues to be felt, Milwaukee Public School’s spending practices continue to come under scrutiny.

Expenditures include thousands of dollars for leather coference chairs and trophies, and tens of thousands of dollars for what the district labeled as “Contributions” to United Way.

Calls to officials at the MPS district office on Vliet Street in Milwaukee requesting comment on these expenditures went unanswered

The MacIver News Graphic, above, includes only some of the expenditures to vendors from May, 2010. We ran a similar graphic and story last month and this will now be a regular feature at MacIver News. However, anyone can can examine the MPS checkbook for themselves, at anytime, online.

MPS spending is a web tool developed by Milwaukee Public Schools to allow the public to review and analyze school district spending. The site allows users to examine spending by several criteria, including school or department, funding type (Board or categorical funds) and vendor. The tool tracks expenditures that are processed through accounts payable. It does not track contract amounts or budgets.

The district’s new budget bridged a $33 million budget deficit from last year, and Superintendent William Andrekopoulos has sent layoff notices to hundreds employees to bridge the gap.

MacIver News Service – [Milwaukee, Wisc...] This week the Milwaukee Public School District sent layoff notices to 700 educators, including 500 teachers. However, less than 200 people turned out for a rally Monday protesting the cuts, and most of those in attendance were not the ones being laid off.

That’s not surprising since MPS has been discussing the layoffs for months, and teachers have ignored the budget discussions all year.

As we reported in April:

“We must control costs,” said MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos, “The benefit rate we project for next year is more than 74%. The District cannot sustain that. We are providing millions for benefits that we could be using to keep teaching staff and buy supplies.”

Excessive fringe benefit costs, which have driven the average teacher compensation in Milwaukee Public Schools to more than $100,000 a year, could lead to the elimination of 682 positions within the district next year.

The District has told the local teachers’ union that they could have avoided layoffs if they were to agree to the lower-cost health benefits package that is now one of two options teachers currently have.

As the MPS Board deliberated the budget this spring, attendance at the public meetings was anemic.

The union has not accepted the more cost-effective health benefits plan, and earlier this month the MPS Board passed the budget which included the elimination of several positions.

The layoffs are done by seniority, which puts the youngest, newest teachers at the most risk of losing their jobs. These same teachers say their union did not keep them informed of the ongoing budget deliberations or the fact that their positions were at risk.

Several of the teachers we spoke with Monday questioned the union’s position and communication efforts.

MacIver’s Bill Osmulski reports from Milwaukee:

MacIver News Service–[Milwaukee, Wisc...] Milwaukee Public Schools might never be able to reach the standards of No Child Left Behind, according to school board directors who spoke to the MacIver Institute.

On Tuesday the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction announced Milwaukee Public Schools failed to meet the standards of No Child Left Behind and was a District Identified For Improvement (DIFI) for the fifth year in a row.

“It’s no surprise to anybody,” said Director Bruce Thompson.

Within the district, 62 schools are Schools Identified for Improvement (SIFI) compared to 51 last year.  That means they missed the state’s requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two years in a row.  Altogether 78 MPS schools failed to meet AYP this year.

School Directors warn next year will be worse.  That’s because the AYP standards continually increase.  This year 74 percent of students needed to be proficient at reading and 58 percent at math.  Next year the standard will be 80.5 percent for reading and 68.5 percent for math.  In four years the standard for both is 100 percent.  Thompson said that means next year there will be even more schools on the SIFI list and MPS may never reach compliance.

“The standards keep rising each year that tends to catch more people,” he said.

Director David Voeltner has only been on the School Board for a year now, and in that time he’s come to realize “Educating children from a high poverty background, it’s just a very difficult task.”

Given that situation, Voeltner believes education will never become the main priority in many students’ lives, and that means MPS will continue to struggle.

“Unfortunately we’re not going to see any major gains until we see some major changes in the financial and social situations these children come from,” Voeltner said.  “I know you’re going to say we’re passing the buck on this but we’re not giving up when we say these things.  We’re doing things every day, every month to try and change things.”

Thompson points out that although poverty is a major obstacle in education, Milwaukee is faring much worse than other high poverty districts around the country.

“You look at some of the districts, like Boston, Charlotte and Austin, and they do much better, though still not great.  And so we need to look at what those districts are doing,” Thompson said.

In the meantime, incoming superintendent Dr. Gregory Thornton has put the district’s comprehensive literacy plan on “pause.”  The goal of that plan is to standardize reading curriculum around the district, and has been in the works since last year.

“It must reflect the latest research, data, and methodology that has been successful in districts like ours,” Dr. Thornton said in a press release announcing his plans to reevaluate the program. “The extra effort spent now will pay great dividends later.”

Thornton said he will bring his plan to the school board later this summer and the program will be in place by the start of the school year.

The MacIver Institute tried to contact Dr. Thornton and the other directors on the School Board, but those messages were not returned by the time of this post.