10 things for the next MPS leader to ponder.

So you want to be the next superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools. This is admirable. The school system is hugely important and it needs a great leader.

The job is open now that Darienne Driver announced she will leave in July, four years after she took the job. Driver hasn’t shed much light on why she is departing to become CEO of the United Way of Southeastern Michigan. Personal reasons seem to be a big part of it. According to many people, she got engaged recently to a man from Detroit.

But she has Milwaukee-based reasons to want to move on. You better understand them before you apply for the job. In fact, all of us should give them thought. Some might even have an outlandish notion that now is the right time to talk, in a mature, smart and nonpartisan way, about the whole structure of Milwaukee schooling.

Could we create a way to end the harmful fighting between sectors, allow everyone to thrive and maximize the quality of schools in the city?

But let’s assume that conversation won’t occur and you still want the job.

Here are 10 issues for you:

Poverty in Milwaukee

No one has succeeded in producing great outcomes on a broad basis in a high-poverty city in the United States.

Some places have done better than others and better than Milwaukee. Maybe that’s because the poverty rate in Milwaukee is among the highest.

There are so many issues shaping kids’ lives that you as superintendent can’t overcome. Raising the overall success rates in urban areas is very tough.

Money

This is high on the list at the moment.

Driver will stick around through the budget process for the 2018-'19 school year, and it’s not shaping up to be pretty. Substantial cuts to spending in schools, to benefits for employees and to central office are being discussed.

The forecast for the next few years doesn’t get better. The financial relief that MPS got after the passage in 2011 of Act 10, which created a lot of cost savings, seems to have run its course. Wanna make big changes?

Not likely if they cost much. Just maintaining what’s in place will be difficult.

The Milwaukee School Board

How much was the board a factor in Driver’s decision to leave?

I don’t know. But relations between her and the board had been problematic lately.

How much did she think the board was keeping her from doing the job the way she wanted to, including taking some bolder steps she appeared to support?

Did she think ideas for change would be shot down by the board?

Could be.

Teachers and the teachers’ union

Don’t expect a happy workforce. The union has turned up the volume on its unhappiness and it remains a powerful force, even without the bargaining powers it had before Act 10, which dramatically curtailed collective bargaining for most public employees, including teachers.

Beyond the union itself, it won’t be easy for MPS to attract and retain top teachers, given the renewed money crunch.

Principals

You can advocate all sorts of things as superintendent, but carrying them out depends a lot on the 150 or so principals running schools.

I suspect if Driver were candid, she’d say that she worries about the quality of principals overall. And there is concern that a wave of retirements is coming. Good luck finding great principals.

Student achievement

Driver accomplished some things as superintendent, but the most important big picture point to me is that student achievement didn’t change much.

A few indicators improved a bit. Overall, the situation continues to be deeply alarming.

Year after year, one in five students in MPS (and in the private school voucher program) rates as proficient in reading. Fewer than that are proficient in math.

Is it Driver’s fault that things haven’t improved much?

Obviously, there’s lots of blame to share. But, ultimately the coach is judged by how the team does on the field. The team is chronically beleaguered.

Relationships

This was Driver’s biggest strength. She connected with all sorts of people — community leaders, philanthropists, business leaders, elected officials, leaders from elsewhere in Wisconsin.

This translated into both tangible and intangible support for MPS.

But relationships require a lot of tending, especially with so many competing interests. Driver will be a tough act to follow on this front.

More than 7,500 students are attending independent charter schools this year that are authorized to operate by the school board.

Tensions over the future of these schools are high, with the teachers’ union adamantly opposed to them. Driver appeared to be caught in the grinding middle of this.

There is a considerable possibility of hotter controversy soon.

Where will the next superintendent stand?

Enrollment

What, if anything, can be done about the long-term, declining enrollment in the traditional MPS schools?

About 57% of Milwaukee children getting a publicly-funded education are in the conventional MPS system.

The rest are in private schools, charter schools, suburban public schools or in alternative schools of various kinds. If the MPS portion falls further, that will further harm stability.

If it rises, that will help. But how do you get it to rise?

Community willpower

You have to wonder how much people in the Milwaukee area and statewide, both leaders and the general population, truly care if MPS succeeds.

There have been improvements in the involvement of civic leaders. But the overall climate, from the top down, is pretty lukewarm, if not apathetic.

We remain largely segregated racially, economically, culturally — and educationally.

Can a new superintendent count on broad community support?

So good luck with your application for the job. The pay and benefits are pretty good. It is truly a position of great importance. And if you like a challenge, well, you’re in the right place.

Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@ marquette.edu.