OPINION: Milwaukee’s students cannot afford for MPS to (just) maintain and sustain: We need a plan | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Colleston Morgan
March 8, 2024
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On April 2, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is asking Milwaukeeans for a permanent 30% increase in their property taxes to provide additional funding for our struggling school district.
It’s an ambitious request — the largest school property tax referendum ever placed on a ballot. It also comes without a thoughtful or complete plan for how over $250 million in newfunding each year will improve academic outcomes for our city’s students and address MPS’ long-term financial sustainability.
In fact, MPS has only promised that these funds will be used to “maintain and sustain” the status quo – and Milwaukee’s students, families and residents deserve far more. We need a plan — and until there’s a plan, Milwaukeeans should vote no on this referendum.
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Maintaining the status quo in Milwaukee means remaining in an academic crisis. Last year, nine in 10 MPS students did not meet grade-level expectations in math and reading. MPS’ scores on the Nation’s Report Card are lower than peer districts, in some cases by two full grade levels. For Black students – nearly 80% of MPS’ enrollment – academic performance remains the worst in the nation.
MPS must clearly outline how exactly new funding will improve these abysmal results. Families and taxpayers deserve specifics before agreeing to pay hundreds of dollars more in property taxes every year.
MPS must also face the reality of our city’s changing demographics. District enrollment has declined by more than 30% from its peak, yet MPS operates the same number of schools. And many of these buildings are now half-empty. By the district’s own figures, 40 schools are “significantly under-enrolled,” with some serving as few as 125 students.
Spending tens of millions of dollars each year subsidizing schools operating well below their capacity is unsustainable and irresponsible – but MPS has yet to present its “right-sizing” plan.
Without a detailed plan, how can Milwaukeeans know that this time will be different? Since 2020, MPS has received an unprecedented influx of funding – more than $1.2 billion. Thanks in large part to $87 million per year from Milwaukee taxpayers, MPS is now funded above both statewide and suburban district averages.
Yet today, MPS has even lower academic outcomes and larger financial shortfalls than before – even accounting for the impacts of the pandemic. Before passing another funding referendum, MPS must reassure Milwaukeeans that it will finally get its fiscal house in order.
In the end, this referendum is about more than dollars and cents. It is about the future of education for all Milwaukee students – including, but not just limited to, those in MPS.
Continuing with piecemeal Band-Aid solutions without resolving the underlying issues will only lead us back here again — and soon. Indeed, the district’s own financial projections show a return to red ink in as little as six years.
Milwaukee needs a plan – a thoughtful, ambitious plan for how these dollars will improve unacceptable academic outcomes not just in MPS but for all Milwaukee students and address MPS’ long-term financial sustainability.
Until MPS and city leaders put one forward, Milwaukeeans will  rightly question whether sending hundreds of millions more of their tax dollars to MPS each year will truly impact anything but their pocketbooks. Our city’s students – our city’s future –  hangs in the balance.
Born and raised in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood and an alum of Milwaukee’s public and private schools, Colleston Morgan Jr was appointed as executive director of City Forward Collective in 2023. Previously, he served as the organization’s vice president, strategy & policy. In his career, Colleston has served as a high school social studies teacher and district administrator in New Orleans as well as an executive with Teach for America. Colleston earned an A.B. in Government from Harvard University and a master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He is the proud father of two school-aged daughters.