The Milwaukee Public School District could be receiving more than $40 million in federal funding if it agrees to implement certain “turn-around” techniques, including firing teachers and closing low-performing schools.
President Barack Obama announced earlier this month he was investing $900 million in his 2011 budget for education strategies for high schools with graduation rates below 60 percent.
The main strategies Obama outlined included firing the principal and teachers and hiring back no more than 50 percent of the staff, closing the school and sending the kids to a more high-performing school or reopening it as a charter school, or replacing just the principal and requiring the other staff to undergo training in educational techniques.
According to Obama, 12 percent of the country’s schools produce 50 percent of the country’s dropouts. In the next five years, Obama wants his administration to help turn around the struggling 5,000 lowest performing schools in the nation.
“If a school is struggling, we have to work with the principal and the teachers to find a solution,” Obama said in a statement. “We’ve got to give them a chance to make meaningful improvements. But if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn’t show signs of improvement, then there’s got to be a sense of accountability.”
The five lowest-performing schools in the state are all in the MPS district, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Milwaukee School Board member Terrence Falk said the district has not currently decided anything regarding the funding, especially because the Obama Administration has announced they may be changing some of the requirements. It is a decision that has to be made by all nine members on the school board.
Falk said although Obama’s proposed strategies may be successful in certain schools, that does not mean it can be used as an across-the-board policy for every school.
“These seem to be off-the-rack type solutions and I would prefer a process to have a school examined to see what are the specific problems of that school,” Falk said. “Why is this school not being successful? And it might have nothing to do with the principal.”
Falk added the district has already been closing and restructuring many schools and they are not solely waiting to see what strategies the government decides to approve. MPS schools face many challenges, including students coming from impoverished backgrounds, high rates of student mobility and rising class sizes.
“What’s the common denominator? Poverty,” Falk said. “Do we need the money? Of course we do. The question is always are the strings that are attached, are they a hindrance or a help?”
Falk added although poverty has a negative effect on education, it should not be used as an excuse for schools to give up and stop trying to improve.
A committee will be meeting Thursday to discuss the district’s budget, and budget implications from the possible federal funding may be discussed, Falk said.
