Folkbum: Merge Milwaukee and Suburban Schools

For more on Education in Wisconsin, Folkbum:

A Radical Idea for Milwaukee's Schools

...So by now I'm sure you see it coming: What if we merge MPS and the surrounding public school districts into one? I'm not necessarily envisioning a five-county-sized district, but, with the end of transfer limits, as noted above, we almost have one without a merger by default. Codifying it, though, would provide exactly the kick in the pants needed to bring the region on board for really, seriously, and comprehensively addressing the problems that MPS's test scores and other performance measures highlight.

It will work, instant economic integration but I doubt there is the political will to accomplish it.  Madison did this within its school district by pairing Franklin-Randall and Lincoln-Midvale. There was success, it could have been greater.  More in a subsequent post.

Comments

[Bill Hughes]

This proposal has circulated before in the Milwaukee area. The most common form of the plan helped lead to the Chapter 220 Program-State legislation and a Voluntary Settlement of a desegration lawsuit in the mid 1980's. One must keep in mind the magnitude of a proposal to merge or combine school districts in the Milwaukee metro area. There are 87,000 plus students in MPS alone and then one must consider, Milwaukee County School Districts, not to mention surrounding counties of Ozaukee and Waukesha that contain sizeable numbers of students. Finally, the econonmic factor of those businesses that supply these districts with the basic supplies, food, etc that need to be factored into such a decision. Regionalism and merging of districts though is an interesting concept that can be considered in seeking greater efficency of scale.