Gov. Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett made news last week by announcing that they would take steps to oversee the Milwaukee Public Schools board because a private consultant's audit claimed that the district could cut as much as $100 million per year.
The McKinsey & Co. audit found that MPS's finances are in trouble because of declining enrollment due to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and increasing expenses. But it also found that "MPS's per-pupil spending is roughly in line with state and national averages."
The consultants claimed that the district could cut costs by centralizing its purchases, serving prepackaged lunches, renegotiating benefits packages, and decreasing work hours so that some employees would qualify for BadgerCare.
But MPS board member Michael Bonds says that the consultants, the mayor and the governor are missing the bigger picture. The best way to make MPS more efficient, Bonds explained, is to change the way the state funds education, not the makeup or oversight of the board.
"Unless you have some structural changes, it doesn't matter who you have on the board or in the administration," Bonds said.
While most policy-makers-including Barrett-are focused on fixing the funding flaws created by the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Bonds said the larger problem is the way the state funds public school districts throughout Wisconsin.
Under the very complicated school funding formula, MPS receives more state money when it raises the property tax levy to the maximum it can. If it doesn't raise taxes to the limit, it will receive less money from the state now and in the future.
The result, Bonds said, is that MPS gets penalized for being more efficient.
"Right now there's no incentive to cut costs," Bonds said.
Bonds said it was also highly ironic that the mayor was calling for MPS to be more efficient, because, for example, the City Hall restoration was $40 million over budget, and the city has delayed capital improvements-and can't make necessary pothole repairs-due to lack of funds and organization.
"And they're talking about fiscal responsibility?" Bonds said. "It's almost comical to me."
Beyond the Board's Control
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Barrett aide Jodie Tabak said the mayor hopes that the school board and the school administration work cooperatively with him, the governor and the state school superintendent to improve the financial standing of MPS and to develop the district's corrective action plan as defined under federal law.
MPS Board President Peter Blewett said that he would be happy to work with anyone who is willing to step forward. But he noted that some issues turned up in the audit can't be solved by the MPS board. For example, southeastern Wisconsin has the highest health care costs in the state, which is reflected in the cost of MPS's benefits.
"We need to attack the real problems, like the high cost of health care and poverty in the city," Blewett said. "The solution is not to take away benefits from our lowest-paid employees."
Bonds said he had met with the McKinsey consultants while they were working on the audit, and many of his ideas and past budget amendments wound up in the audit's recommendations. He said that while some of his initiatives hadn't been supported by the majority of board members, others, such as his call for less busing, are already in the works.
Jennifer Morales, who is leaving the MPS board, was furious that the audit wasn't shared with board members before it was released to the public. She added that some of McKinsey's recommendations have been tried but couldn't be carried out. For example, the audit recommended that MPS negotiate with the Milwaukee County Transit System so that students could purchase bus tickets at a greater discount. But Morales said the county has balked at that idea, and even the audit noted that the financially strapped bus system probably couldn't withstand that cut in revenues.
Morales said she tells people that MPS raises taxes because Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker "doesn't have the guts to raise taxes so that the bus system is adequately funded. So MPS is funding the public transit system. It's very nice for McKinsey to suggest that we can renegotiate [bus fares], but the only way that's going to happen is if we get rid of Walker and put in other leadership in the county."
