Mayoral takeover of MPS a bad idea

Ah, September. Cool weather, changing leaves, football, and back to school. Before I had the great honor of serving as your state representative, I served on the Milwaukee school board for eight years. Even then, public education was facing challenges: low student achievement, declining attendance, decreasing enrollment, increasing state and federal mandates, and rising costs.

The problems facing public education have been blamed on many sources: unions, lack of parental involvement, the school board. Now, high-level officials are proposing to take over MPS. This proposal would take control out of the hands of you, the voter, and turn it over to a board appointed by the mayor.

For Milwaukee residents, a significant chunk of the property tax bill is levied on behalf of the public schools. Our taxes pay for the facilities, salaries, and attendant costs of operating the state’s largest and most complex school district. As a property tax payer, I oppose the loss of representation that a mayoral takeover of the school district represents. 

When I first ran for the state Assembly in 1998, one of the things that prompted me was talk of an MPS mayoral takeover. Without our publicly accountable school board structure, we will have to rely on one person to appoint all the members of the governing board. This will bottleneck decision-making power and abandon the direct election of our board members, a major sacrifice for Milwaukee parents and property tax payers. We lose representation, our forum for democratic engagement with our elected decision-makers. I’m surprised that this solution is offered by Democrats, because it is such a unilateral undemocratic approach.

Let’s not take the cash buy-out from Washington-let’s keep our school board public. Will parents be comfortable with mayor-appointed board members? The people we elect to the school board are neighbors who are involved in their communities; these are folks who understand what we want for our children. Will this appointed board be as responsive? Do you want your vote taken away?

Chris Sinicki is the state representative for Wisconsin’s 20th state Assembly District, which includes southern Bay View, St. Francis, Cudahy, the airport, and other parts of the south side. Her website is chrissinicki.net and she can be reached at (888) 534-0020 or rep.sinicki@legis.wi.gov.

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