Milwaukee school board rejects part of state improvement plan
With millions of dollars in aid to schools at stake, the Milwaukee School Board has put the brakes on a main element of a plan to get Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) off the list of districts not measuring up under the federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB). "I dare them to take money out of kids' classrooms," board member Jennifer Morales said. She has led the charge to oppose two steps required under a plan the board agreed to in September for dealing with MPS' label of District Identified for Improvement under the federal law. MPS and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) officials agreed in the fall to a plan that includes increased summer school programs emphasizing reading and math instruction this year, more training for principals of schools that have not met standards for progress, expanded reading and math instruction in those schools and an experiment next year in which two schools will add at least 30 days to their academic year. The agreement also calls for MPS to hire an administrator to deal with its efforts under the law, and nine supervisors to work under that administrator. The salaries would be paid by federal funds administered by the DPI. After Elizabeth Burmaster, state superintendent of public instruction, met with the school board in October, the board unanimously voted to work with DPI in implementing the plan.
But the atmosphere was less cooperative when two key steps came up this week. Morales said it wasn't enough to hear that federal aid would pay for the first three assistants to the administrator—she wanted the U.S. Department of Education to write a check to MPS specifically for the full cost of the jobs. The board's actions were accompanied by warnings from several MPS administrators about the consequences of not pursuing the plan. Joan Aguado Ware, a contract specialist for MPS, told the board, “I don't think I'm exaggerating to say $30 million is immediately at stake.” Burmaster said, “If they're not going to use the funds for what we directed them to do, which their board approved earlier, I guess we'd be looking at not giving them that money.” However, she declined to estimate how much was at stake. The amount might range from relatively small amounts for specific things MPS didn't do or to larger totals as part of penalties for not complying. Burmaster added, “Our expectation is that MPS will meet their obligations under the DIFI plan, which they were obligated to develop under the No Child Left Behind Act.... If not, they will be subject to sanctions under the law.”
Several board members also balked at starting the reading program Jan. 28, the first day of the second semester, saying MPS was not ready to move that quickly and the fast start would cause chaos. Michael Bonds, chairman of the finance committee, said he had been told by five principals involved that their schools were not ready to start the program. But the board voted 5-3 in favor of going ahead now, with board member Terry Falk's demand for extra administrative help to schools included.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1/19/08, By Alan Borsuk