MPS has obligation to provide transportation for students

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 28, Erin Richards reported that two private Catholic schools were attempting to get Milwaukee Public Schools to fulfill the district’s legal obligation to offer transportation services to citywide private schools. One of those schools, St. Joan Antida High School, was reported as filing a notice of claim against MPS, demanding that the district compensate the school for the cost of busing.

As the head of school at St. Joan Antida High School, an all-girl International Baccalaureate World School, allow me to weigh in.

Our school’s goal is to break the cycle of poverty in Milwaukee by providing a competitive, collegebound education to our students. However, we cannot be competitive as a school in a school choice environment when our students’ basic transportation needs are not being met. These are transportation needs, guaranteed under Wisconsin law, yet neglected by MPS despite its legal responsibility to provide for these services.

In late November, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty went to bat for St. Joan Antida and our students and their families impacted by this issue. Through a legal claim, WILL is demanding that MPS reimburse St. Joan Antida High School for the cost of the busing of 70 St. Joan Antida students who are eligible for transportation services through MPS but are not receiving them.

Under state law, children who attend private schools and meet certain criteria must be transported to their school by the local public school district. In Milwaukee, MPS is the designated transportation provider. MPS is required to provide the same transportation services to students who attend private schools as it provides to students who attend public school.

MPS currently provides transportation to students who attend public citywide high schools including Rufus King, Community High School and Golda Meir, but is not providing the same service to students attending St. Joan Antida High School.

Safe and reliable student transportation is a top priority for St. Joan Antida High School families and the leadership team of the school. And so, because MPS is not providing our students with transportation, we do pay for the busing of more than 50% of our student body, which relies on school bus transportation, at a total cost of more than $108,000. This dollar amount is the equivalent to the cost of our Interna- tional Baccalaureate and Girls in Engineering programs. A $108,000 cost savings in transportation would allow us to greatly expand our course offerings, including adding teaching staff.

St. Joan Antida High School has provided thousands of young women a student-centered, intensive college preparatory education since its founding in 1954. We enroll students from 40 feeder schools throughout the city; the vast majority of them (more than 90%) are students of color. Last year, more than 43% of our graduating seniors who took IB exams scored high enough to earn college credit. And more than 90% of our graduates go on to study at a twoyear or four-year college or university.

In this season of reflection and gratitude, we are grateful to the families of our 70 students who have put their trust in St. Joan Antida High School to go to bat for them to demand the same transportation services received by their public school peers. We also are grateful to those who support our cause and share our belief that students at our school should not be discriminated against and denied transportation just because their families choose the private school option for their daughter.