For the first time in its history, City of Milwaukee leaders must consider the financial impact of new charter schools on the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) when deciding whether to issue a charter to a new school.
That’s thanks to an ordinance crafted last year by Alderman Nik Kovac, which is being implemented for the first time as the Next Door Foundation considers switching from being an MPS-chartered school to one that’s chartered by the city.
“Under current state law, it inevitably means that to approve a new charter school means punishing MPS,” Kovac told the Shepherd. “That’s what I want us to look at.”
If the city does offer a charter to the Next Door Foundation, MPS could potentially lose more than $1 million over the first three years of that contract, according to very rough estimates provided to the Charter School Review Committee last week.
The Next Door Foundation currently serves K3, K4 and K5 students in two locations but would expand under the city charter. It has an MPS charter for the 135 K4 students at its North 29th Street location, but the city charter would cover these students. MPS could also potentially lose an additional 160 students to the city-chartered Next Door school, according to the estimate, prepared by Jarett Fields of Marquette University’s Institute for the Transformation of Learning, who also serves as a staffer to the Charter School Review Committee.
According to Fields’ very rough estimates, MPS would lose $875,481 in the first three years of the city charter just from the loss of the 135 K4 students currently covered by the MPS charter. Additionally, MPS could lose a potential $213,236 over three years from the possible loss of the 160 students who would enroll at the city chartered school. Taken together, MPS would lose more than $1 million in three years if the Next Door Foundation is chartered by the city, according to Fields’ estimates. Others believe that the loss to MPS would be much greater than Fields’ estimates.
Fields cautioned at the April 14 hearing that the numbers were just a rough projection and were based on a number of assumptions that were highly variable.
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That said, the all-appointee Charter School Review Committee voted unanimously to recommend the Next Door Foundation charter. That recommendation goes to the Steering and Rules Committee, made up of Common Council members, which will next meet on May 12. The full council will have the final say on the charter.
Wrestling with the Impact
During its April 14 meeting, the Charter School Review Committee members wrestled with the impact of the financial estimates on their decision to offer a charter to the Next Door Foundation.
In the context of an $828 million budget, the potential loss from the Next Door Foundation charter is “not going to break MPS’ back,” said Kevin Ingram, the committee’s chair.
Committee member Desiree Pointer Mace said that she wasn’t sure how to use the numbers presented to make a decision about expanding the city’s charter schools.
“I’m trying to figure out as a responsible member of this community how to use these numbers in ways that are real to help me make a decision,” Mace said.
Staffer Fields predicted that the financial impact statement would be a concern for the council members on the Steering and Rules Committee.
Kovac told the Shepherd that everyone should be concerned about the financial impact of expanding the city’s charter schools and diverting tax dollars from the public schools.
“I think everyone in the City of Milwaukee and state of Wisconsin should be worried about this,” Kovac said. “And anyone who says they’re not isn’t paying attention.”
