Milwaukee College Prep stays with MPS
Charter school could have lost stimulus funds
Milwaukee College Prep, a charter school that had signaled leaving the Milwaukee Public Schools’ authority, is ultimately staying under contract with MPS after it became clear it could lose out on federal stimulus funds already allocated to the district.
Milwaukee School Board members on Thursday approved another fiveyear contract with the school, which includes four campuses with the capacity for 2,000 students, despite some frustrations with the process.
Milwaukee College Prep (MCP) stood to lose more than $10 million in federal stimulus funds if it left MPS, as MPS had already been designated as the intermediary for those funds, said MCP Chief Education Officer Robert Rauh.
MCP is a non-instrumentality charter school, meaning it is run and staffed by non-MPS employees. But all charter schools must be authorized, or “chartered,” under a contract with a school district or other state-approved entity, which dispenses its public funding.
Rauh previously said the school was switching authorizers, from MPS to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, because of souring relations with MPS after 10 years of working together.
A critical conflict arose when the district denied MCP a bonus payment of $650 per student tied to standardized test results, as there was no testing done in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rauh argued the district should have awarded the payment based on testing earlier in the year that met the standards. MCP took the district to court in April, seeking payment for MPS’ alleged breach of contract. MPS officials denied there was a breach of contract.
Despite the conflicts, Rauh said he revisited the idea of contracting with MPS when he realized the school could lose stimulus funds. Rauh said he was pleasantly surprised by his conversations with Superintendent Keith Posley and some board members.
“They were willing to reconsider, which was great,” Rauh said.
MPS officials said they would only consider renewing MCP’s contract if it dropped its lawsuit, according to court documents.
On Thursday, just before voting on the new contract, board members approved a settlement agreement with MCP. In the agreement, MCP committed to dropping the lawsuit if the school board approved the new contract.
After the contract was approved, Rauh confirmed MCP will be dropping the suit, forgoing the bonus payment but securing the stimulus funds.
“Although we’re certainly disappointed we never got to delve into the merits of the case, the pros outweigh the cons in terms of going back to the district,” he said.
The decision also prevents MPS from losing state and local tax revenue associated with MCP students. While MPS passes along most of that revenue to MCP, it retains some funds for administrative fees and district programming.
The approved contract sets administrative fees at 1% of MCP’s funding from MPS, coming out to about $184,000. The amount is subject to negotiations and is as high as 3% for some other charter schools. In the case of MCP, that would have meant an additional $368,040 for MPS.
School board member Jilly Gokalgandhi raised concerns about the difference.
“It’s a little troubling and frustrating that the difference between the 1 and 3 percent fee is substantial, especially when we think about the interruption of when this contract was renegotiated, and when it’s coming back, and the resources and time of the people who are trying to get us back to school and get us recalibrated after a pandemic year,” she said.
Gokalgandhi abstained from voting on the contract, along with Marcela Garcia. Other board members voted in favor. Board member Aisha Carr, whose child attended MCP and whose district includes the school, spoke in support.
“I am proud to be part of the MCP community within the district,” she said. “MCP has added a lot of value to MPS and the Milwaukee community.”
Rauh said it’s too early to say whether MCP will stay with MPS after this contract.
“Obviously we’ve had some bumps in the road, but I think it’s hard to predict where things are going to be in five years,” he said. “We’re happy we’re in the place we’re in and anxious to move forward.”
With the stimulus funds, Rauh said administrators are looking to invest in mental health support and tutoring, though they are early on in the planning process.