Journal Sentinel wrong, Board President Blewett says

School Board President Peter Blewett issued a press release this afternoon stating that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel erred when it reported that the School Board voted to look into dissolving MPS. Here is the text of Blewett's release:

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel erroneously reported that the MPS Board was exploring dissolving the District. What, in fact, occurred last evening was that a committee of the Board, the Committee on Strategic Planning and Budget, took public testimony about, and forwarded a recommendation to the full Board regarding the District’s FY09 budget.

The committee heard public testimony from taxpayers indicating that in these stressful financial times, any increase in the tax levy would put undue stress on taxpayers. Committee members also heard testimony from individuals advocating for increasing funds to the district and to the schools so that Milwaukee’s children would have equity with students in other districts both in Milwaukee County and throughout the State, even if this meant increasing the tax levy.

In an attempt to bring attention to MPS’s significant financial stress due to the State of Wisconsin’s broken school finance formula, a question was raised regarding the state’s obligations to Milwaukee’s students, including a discussion of what obligations would remain and who would be financially responsible should the district be dissolved. The committee voted 6-3 to forward a recommendation to the full Board authorizing “the administration to investigate state and federal guidelines regarding the dissolution of the district, a district of a city of the first class, what obligations would remain, and who would be financially responsible should the district be dissolved, and report back to the Board at a time the administration feels is adequate.”

The committee recommended identifying at least $15 million in state and federal mandates that do not directly benefit students. The overwhelming concerns were that the state’s school funding system was broken, that various state and federal mandates direct that funds be used in ways that do not directly benefit students, and that both the state and federal governments continue to reduce funding to school districts.

Subsequent information has been brought to the attention of the Office of Board Governance that state laws governing a “city of the first class” do not include provisions or options for dissolving a school district. Only legislative action could effect this change. Contrary to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s story, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors took no action on Thursday, September 18, 2008. However, the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Board for action on September 25, 2008.

The Strategic Planning and Budget Committee includes all nine members of the School Board.