News

Bill: Get rid of district by 2013

GOP legislators want to turn Milwaukee schools into 8 more manageable zones

A proposal introduced Thursday by two Republican lawmakers would dissolve the Milwaukee Public Schools System in favor of eight smaller, independent school districts.

“We believe it’s too big to operate,” Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, said of MPS. “Over time … the separation that has occurred between the parents, students and administration had gotten so big there is no connection between the schools’ administration and the children. It’s broken.”

Currently, MPS — the largest school district in the state — has one superintendent, 6,100 teachers, 207 schools and over 87,000 students. It is the 31st-largest school district in the United States in terms of enrollment.

To help remedy the problem, Kanavas and Rep. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, are advocating the creation of a committee to divide MPS’ current district into eight districts in terms of population, with new school boards to be elected in the spring of 2013 and students starting classes that fall.

Vukmir said the large scale of the “failures” in MPS has necessitated such an action.

“This is a generational failure that requires a drastic approach. … We need to do something completely different than we’ve ever done before,” Vukmir added. “The state has a vested interest in MPS. What happens in Milwaukee affects the rest of the state.”

According to Vukmir, the creation of the separate districts would allow parents to be more involved in their children’s schooling, increasing the chances of student success.

Both Vukmir and Kanavas said the current status quo in Milwaukee is no longer working.

Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, is skeptical of the lawmakers’ real motives, according to spokesperson Kevin Benish, because Vukmir is from Wauwatosa and Kanavas is from Brookfield, two wealthy suburbs of Milwaukee.

“We would simply question the motives of two legislatives from the affluent suburbs for seeking to dismantle [MPS],” Benish said. “We think teachers are committed to educating young minds, and that should be the focus of education in the state, not dismantling.”

Vukmir and Kanavas have done little to reform MPS, Benish added.

Legislators have until April 10 to co-sponsor the bill, which will then head to committee before it can be voted on by the state Legislature.