Posted on Sunday, 17th August 2008 by Patrick Dorwin
Before we give them more money to fritter away, shouldn’t the be held accountable for the $102 million dollars that they have already wasted?
Empty promise
The $102 million Neighborhood Schools Initiative was supposed to get students off buses and into revamped schools near their homes. Instead, darkened classrooms and half-empty buildings serve as monuments to the program’s failures.The district spent $30 million on major additions to schools where enrollment has actually declined. An additional $19.5 million went toward construction at schools where enrollment gains have fallen far short of expectations. Construction began in 2001, and almost all additions were completed by 2005.
In the most expensive misfire, MPS spent $7 million upfront to lease new classroom space from an affiliate of Holy Redeemer, a prominent Milwaukee church.
That MPS addition is one of the nicest facilities in a district that still uses century-old buildings. And it’s vacant.
And the waste continues… No wonder why the pastor of Holy Redeemer can afford to own an estimated $1 million dollars worth of cars and a River Hills “parsonage.”
MPS entered into a partnership with Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ to convert a warehouse into a school complex with space to accommodate 405 district students. The complex, which would include a new Boys & Girls Club, would serve as a satellite for the Thirty-fifth Street School two blocks away.
The MPS students would share the building with Holy Redeemer’s competing private school – a participant in Milwaukee’s publicly financed voucher program. The building project cost more than $15 million. Holy Redeemer would own it and build it. MPS paid $7 million upfront to lease space for fourth- through eighth-graders, essentially providing nearly half the construction money.
At the same time, the district spent $4.5 million more on a second addition for kindergarten through third grade at the original Thirty-fifth Street campus near W. Hampton Ave.
Enrollment was so low that by September 2007, after just three years, the bright new MPS side of the Holy Redeemer campus was unneeded.
So last year, with 21 years to go on the lease, MPS quietly moved out and consolidated the school in the original Thirty-fifth Street building, squeezing the older children into cramped kindergarten classrooms.
The district paid $223,000 last year just to maintain the empty building.
Enrollment has been dropping at MPS for years, but each year they come to us for their double digit increases. They spend $102 million to reduce busing, then spend an extra $2.5 million on busing while classrooms sit empty.
It’s a darn good thing we taxpayers have lots of extra money so MPS can keep spending it like drunken sailors.
Posted in Home | Comments (19)
19 Responses to “As MPS imposes another tax increase on you, remember this…”
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August 17th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Now what? Every problem at MPS can’t be solved by dump truck loads full of cash? I guess they’ll just ask for bigger dump trucks.
August 17th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Last year, I attended a MPS School board meeting. It was about the huge 16% increase they were going to have.
Many parents got up and spoke. I remember one father, who’s daughter had problems reading and they had to get her a tudor on their own. Reason – they were denied due to funding.
August 17th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
The paper is running a poll:
To bad people don’t remember this when it is time to vote, huh?
August 18th, 2008 at 5:28 am
[...] Original Firedoglake [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 7:46 am
It occurred to me that the $7 million up-front on the lease was questionable, at best.
Too bad the JS’ reportorial staff is sinking as fast as MPS’ bond-rating, or there could be a VERY interesting “rest of the story” here.
The fact that the Bishop was photo-opped with GWB should provide some shark-bait for the MSM, no?
August 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
The paper continues to point out failures in the bloated MPS system.
Bad decisions, bad outcomes
Poor planning, complacency, politics sapped campaign to fill neighborhood schools
August 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
The reality is that no one wants to send their kids to school with other kids with certain kinds of values and morals. We will continue to move away from them till they start to care for themselves and each other, instead of trying to gets the free check.
You bus them to my school where they disrupt class, exhaust resources, beat up my kid and get expelled, then they go to the next school… At some point there is nowhere to go, identify the problem and fix it, stop throwing money at it.
Bad morals and values installed by parents may create an uneducatable kid? How is bussing the bad kid around going to solve anything? How is making the facilities nice for them to wreck going to help anything? You have to identify the special kids and move them away to a special school, period. Don’t force them on your neighbors.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
When a school district’s enrollment increases, it has to spend additional money (new facilities and more teachers) to accomodate more students.
But when a school district’s enrollment declines, the persistence of fixed costs means that the cost per student goes up.
Therefore (since school district enrollment is always going either up or down) either total expenditures must increase, or per-student costs must increase, or both.
You may think that sounds like the world’s biggest ratchet handle, but, that’s economics as most school boards, and all teachers’ unions, see it.
Now, tell me how you can get them to see it differently- and (at least equally important) why they’d ever be motivated to do so?
August 18th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
When a school district’s enrollment increases, it must spend more (for teachers and facilities) to accomodate the additional students.
But when a school district’s enrollment declines, the persistence of fixed costs means that the per-student cost increases.
Therefore, since school enrollment is always either increasing or decreasing, expenses must always increase.
At least, that’s how most school boards, and all teachers’ unions, see it.
Now, you may think that’s the world’s biggest ratchet handle. Now, tell me how you’d get them to see it differently– and (this is even more important) why they might be motivated to do so?
August 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
When I get crappy service at a restaurant, I don’t got here anymore.
When Milwaukee’s parents (the ones who give a damn) got bad educations for their children, they left. Furthermore, Milwaukee’s population is declining and the surrounding counties are growing.
Libtards aren’t in denial, their lifes blood is tied to taxation for the most part, so every excuse they can come up with is used.
MPS is completely worthless. Those who run MPS are clowns. Those who run the school board are clowns, and the ability of the Milwaukee taxpayer to continue paying his/her share is shrinking.
Naturally liberals like Folktunes come up with new and ever more ridiculous excuses.
Most who post here have left the city. Some have stayed. Most of those who have stayed have regrets.
August 18th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Recall that the neighborhood schools initiative was spear-headed by the conservative wing (talk-radio supported, e.g.) of the Board at the time, with support of Republicans in the legislature, over the objections of those of us who knew that parents were not interested in their neighborhood schools. Korté was selected by the Board with exactly this goal in mind; it was his only accomplishment and once it was in place, the Board bought him out and sent him on his way.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
folkbum Says: “objections of those of us who knew that parents were not interested in their neighborhood schools.”
The thinking was that it was the facilities that were the problem, rather than the students and parents participation in education. If a large portion of the local population don’t participate and act like victims, they will not be educated. The facilities and teachers are adequete, they are just trying to ship their bad students to anyone elses school. Hmmm, sounds like the same liberal thinking to vote to tax everyone else but me. Its just simply flawed.
Plaining bad parents, bad morals and values equals uneducatable/unemployable citizen.
Solution: get the parents involved. Have them sit in class with their kid if they have to.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
John Smith, half of the high school girls are parents themselves. Be careful what you ask for.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
“Solution: get the parents involved. Have them sit in cla with their kid if they have to.”
The snarky response to that is something on the order of – maybe the parents could actually graduate with their kids on their second try.
The sad response is that many of the parents would cause as many problems as their offspring – ala the fights at schools involving parents that were called in as reinforcements in the last year.
But seriously, perhaps MPS just needs to cut off the bussing heroin. I don’t recall any of the school districts that I have lived in that allow parents to select any school and expect the district to bus them there. If you didn’t like the neighborhood school – you had to get Johnny and Jill back and forth to the other one on your own.
There – I just saved MPS over $50MM
August 18th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Do you realize that sending all MPS students to Catholic schools would save several hundred million per year!
Or Lutheran or even Muslim schools.
Do you think MPS will consider that?
August 19th, 2008 at 7:58 am
gus – only if all the professional educators and other MPS employees could continue to get their paychecks, raises, perks, and retirement.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:08 am
rc Says: “The sad response is that many of the parents would cause as many problems as their offspring – ala the fights at schools involving parents that were called in as reinforcements in the last year.”
Exactly, the problem is not the facilities, lack of resource, educators, or even the kids necessarily. It is those parents that would wait in line to gets the free FEMA check defrauding the government and screwing their neighbors that actually needed the FEMA check. Some people are uneducatable and unemployable that have lots of kids. Bad morals, bad values, bad people, no wonder businesses and good people are fleeing from Milwaukee. The feds and the state will eventually cut the cord, what are they going to do then?
August 21st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Has anyone looked at the number of residents fleeing Milwaukee. It is looking more apparent as they businesses and jobs leave, the people will too. Then who is going to pay the vast administration.
Apparently the city dies. Look out Milwaukee schools, at you tax the businesses out you may be actually taxing out your job and school.
Dead City: Big spender Milwaukee soon to follow…
http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Article_forbes.aspx?cp-documentid=9579218>1=35000
November 28th, 2008 at 1:01 am
[...] is a school system that OWNS empty buildings all over the city. In August, we learned that MPS has been spending tens of millions of your dollars expanding schools and places like Holy Redeemer Church converted a warehouse to house even more [...]