Another Down Year for MPS Enrollment Predicted

The past and present foretell the future – at least that’s the case when it comes to the forecast by Milwaukee Public Schools officials for enrollment for next year.

Look for another down year for the main roster of MPS schools and for more city kids to attend school in the suburbs and charter schools not staffed by MPS teachers, Superintendent William Andrekopoulos says in a new report to the School Board.

A third of all Milwaukee children receiving publicly funded education are doing so outside of the main roster of Milwaukee Public Schools, a fact that sheds important light on the educational landscape of the city. I looked at the current figures for this year in my weekly column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sunday.

That figure is likely to go up a notch — maybe from 33 to 34 percent, maybe a bit higher — next year. 

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An Academic Expert Weighs in for Mayoral School Control

Professor Kenneth K. Wong of Brown University and several associates put out a book two years ago titled “The Education Mayor: Improving America’s Schools,” which immediately became the book to read if you were interested in mayoral control of public schools. And Wong is probably the number one figure in academic research about how mayoral control works.

The book was the most thorough examination of the results of efforts to give mayors control – or at least strong roles – in schools in dozens of cities across the United States. And there was something in it for pretty much everybody – supporters of mayoral control focused on conclusions about greater administrative effectiveness in such systems, critics pointed to conclusions that the impact on academic achievement had been generally small in most cities.

But Wong was in Milwaukee this week and, in a presentation to about 25 people at the Milwaukee Athletic Club, came down firmly on the side of mayoral control, including in Milwaukee. In his talk and in an interview following his talk, Wong said data that have come in since the book was written has been increasingly encouraging for mayoral control advocates. 

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$250 Million Worth of Fuss

The U.S. Department of Education released the final rules Thursday for the high-stakes competition called the Race to the Top. That’s the $4.35 billion in grants to be given out in the next year to spur states to take major steps aimed at improving a host of aspects of schooling, including the quality of teachers and the quality of education options open to children, especially those in historically low performing communities.

How much is at stake? Included in the material was a list of how much each state could potentially receive. For Wisconsin, the figure was $150 million to $250 million.

It is unlikely Wisconsin actually will get that much. It appears there are some points where Wisconsin will score well (atmosphere for creating charter schools), and other points where Wisconsin will not do well (track record on closing achievement gaps, such as the one between white and black students).

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