In the 1990s, Milwaukee was widely seen as the epicenter of “education reform” in the country, earning both praise from proponents and scorn from detractors. In the face of poor student outcomes and societal trends such as increasing segregation and poverty, multiple interests had converged to establish the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the country’s first initiative to offer publicly funded tuition vouchers for students to attend private schools. Independently operated public charter schools opened a few years later, further expanding the options available to families.
Democratic State Representative Annette “Polly” Williams advocated for the choice programs as a means of empowerment for low-income city residents, particularly aiming to increase Black families’ control over their children’s education. Republican Governor Tommy Thompson publicly expressed hope of encouraging better quality by increasing competition between schools in Milwaukee, following the arguments of free market economists like Milton Friedman. The views of these and other elected officials – supported by a coalition of parent and community organizers, business interests, and private philanthropy – rested on the belief that students were not sufficiently or equitably served by the current education system, and that families would take more school options if given them.
Opponents, however, characterized the shift of students and funds away from Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) as privatization efforts that undermined the traditional public school system and its obligations under the state constitution. They feared that the resulting dispersion of students would exacerbate inequality, fail to offer public accountability and transparency, and divert resources from MPS, threatening its ability to provide an adequately and equitably resourced system of public schools to its residents. The stakes were high for Milwaukee students, whose levels of poverty stand out on both a statewide and national scale, as well as for the city’s wellbeing and for the state’s workforce and economy.
The Forum took stock of the resulting educational landscape 20 years later in a 2014 series of reports: “What is the Milwaukee K-12 School System?” and “The K-12 School System in Milwaukee: How has it changed and how does it measure up to peers?” Our research provided a broad overview of the types of schools operating in Milwaukee, admissions processes, academic quality, student demographics, and education funding. It further analyzed recent changes in the landscape and compared them to the experiences of national peers.
In the fall of 2023, we took up these questions again, equipped with nearly a decade of additional data. We did so in the context of recovery from a global pandemic and a recently passed state budget and related legislation that, among other provisions, provided K-12 funds and – separately – helped stabilize the finances of both the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. With local government now on firmer ground, the time appeared ripe to return civic attention to the quality of education in the city. Our specific research questions included the following:
- What does the educational ecosystem look like in Milwaukee right now?
- What trends were found in regard to enrollment, demographics, and finances across the different sectors of schools in Milwaukee?
- What trends are identifiable in regard to outcomes for students on the whole in Milwaukee, using both local and national benchmarks?
These questions took on more urgency in early 2024, after our research was already well underway. Alongside other Wisconsin school districts grappling with enrollment losses and state underfunding relative to inflation, the Milwaukee School of Board Directors voted in January to place an operational referendum on the April 4, 2024, ballot for the purposes of authorizing up to $252 million in additional revenue for MPS, to be raised through a combination of increased local property taxes and state aid. The Forum drew upon our years of following MPS finances, in addition to the specific research in progress for this project, to release an analysis and accompanying op-ed on the referendum.
We subsequently published our annual MPS budget brief in May, analyzing the impact of the narrowly approved referendum on the superintendent’s proposed budget and flagging unanswered questions, missing data, and an unaudited 2023 financial statement that undercut our ability and that of the public to analyze the proposal. Less than a week after publication, news broke of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) sanctions placed upon MPS as a result of missing and incorrect financial information. In the weeks since, the district has lost its superintendent, chief financial officer, and comptroller; community organizers have initiated recall efforts against four MPS school board members; and the governor has announced upcoming operational and instructional audits for the district.
This latest report therefore now arrives during a time of heightened scrutiny and civic engagement. While public attention is currently trained primarily on MPS, our research encompasses the whole of the city’s education system, marking both commonalities and differences between different types of publicly funded schools. It highlights financial aspects of the system but also expands the discussion to include student enrollment and outcomes.
The report is organized into three major sections: Milwaukee’s Students and Schools, covering the basic schooling options available to students along with student enrollment and demographic trends; School Funding in Milwaukee, outlining the core funding mechanisms and their funding levels for schools in the city; and Student Outcomes and School Performance, summarizing broad trends in Milwaukee’s academic results. We conclude with key insights for the consideration of both policymakers and the public.
We hope the report’s findings ground both current and future policy discussions with important facts and nonpartisan insights. We further intend to inform those discussions with a second report this fall, in which we will highlight promising K-12 practices and innovations occurring both within Milwaukee and nationally. We look forward to sharing our findings as they emerge, responding to the recent calls for our city to better serve its children.