There’s been a lot of finger-pointing about who’s to blame for the scuttled launch of the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP), the Republican-crafted takeover of low-performing Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Last week, OSPP Commissioner Demond Means, appointed by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, resigned from his position. Abele hasn’t selected a new commissioner yet and the takeover is supposed to start at the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year.
On cue, the blame for Means’ resignation was assigned to MPS by the Republican establishment: Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), OSPP author state Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) and the conservative Journal Sentinel’s editorial board. All attacked MPS leadership for declining Abele and Means’ takeover proposal and offering their own version of reform instead. Fitzgerald has threatened to withhold funding from MPS in retaliation for its refusal to sign on to Means’ plan, not surprising given the Republicans’ longstanding efforts to strip Milwaukee’s public institutions of power and funding, and Kooyenga went on right-wing radio to talk about using the state budget to punish MPS. Who put these bullies in charge of Milwaukee schools?
No, MPS is not to blame for Means’ resignation and the mess that is the OSPP. Rather, the Republicans themselves are responsible for this utter waste of time.
Kooyenga and state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) slipped the OSPP into the state budget with no public hearings in Milwaukee or a legislative committee and gave it to their lapdog Abele, who lacks a college degree and experience with education policy. The legislation includes an unworkable deadline, limited funding, no money for wraparound services, no public oversight, the ability for the OSPP commissioner to seize publicly owned buildings and new taxpayer-funded opportunities for private charter operators. Adding insult to injury, the OSPP, like takeover districts across the nation, was intended to strip low-income, black and brown Milwaukeeans of their right to vote for a publicly elected school board that would oversee the OSPP schools and the right to have a say in their children’s education. There’s a reason why Darling and Kooyenga didn’t set up an OSPP in their home districts: Their constituents would never allow it. Yet Republicans think it’s good enough for Milwaukee and were shocked when MPS leaders and families opposed it.
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Let’s face it: MPS’ counteroffer wasn’t the reason for Means’ departure. Unfortunately, the OSPP was a terrible piece of legislation that will do nothing to help low-income Milwaukee students in low-performing schools. It’s a destructive power grab that only provides opportunities for those interested in privatizing Milwaukee’s public education and suburban Republicans who don’t understand Milwaukee but seem to simply hate Milwaukee.
