[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: The End of the Milwaukee Line

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
The End of the Milwaukee Line
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1222042126.shtml


   Whether a result of its ground-breaking [1]voucher program or not,
   Miwaulkee's Public Schools are apparently doing so badly that its
   [2]School Board seems ready to give up.

     The Milwaukee School Board voted Thursday night to begin looking
     into dissolving the Milwaukee Public Schools system.
     The completely unexpected 6-to-3 vote followed a gloomy assessment
     of the short- and long-term financial situation of MPS from
     Superintendent William Andrekopoulos and several board members.
     The resolution called for the administration to examine state and
     federal guidelines for dissolving the school district and who would
     be responsible for educating children in Milwaukee if that
     happened.

   The crisis is financial, that the schools aren't getting what they
   want from the Wisconsin Legislature. It may be that special education
   costs are the major problem in that non-voucher students are higher
   users of these allegedly underfunded services. There may also be some
   plain old funds mismanagement, one aspect of which is even
   disconcerting to me. I'll post about that later this week.
   Regardless, it's an ominous sign, a scenario we could potentially see
   here with the rise of charter schools.

References

   1. http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/20_03/hist203.shtml
   2. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=796646