Answers to 8 questions about the MPS referendum
Long ago — at least it feels that way — I compared the referendum in which Milwaukeeans will vote whether to pay more in property taxes to help Milwaukee Public Schools to the Super Bowl for setting the course of the future of the school district.
Well, the football Super Bowl would no doubt be canceled or postponed if it was scheduled for the next few weeks. Every other sports event has been.
But the MPS Super Bowl of the future is still scheduled for April 7, as of this writing. How the election itself is going to operate is a mystery to me. What the impact of the coronavirus crisis will be on who votes and how they vote is a mystery to me.
What I don’t regard as a mystery is that ultimately, the future of MPS is important to Milwaukee and to the entire state of Wisconsin, and the referendum outcome will be a significant landmark on the path that MPS and its students travel.
That is not to say I am taking sides on the referendum’s question. I have no intention of doing that. But even as the coronavirus has pretty much knocked the entire election off most people’s radar, I still think this is important. So I offer eight questions and answers about the referendum.
How much money is involved?
$87 million a year, every year, going forward indefinitely. The money would be generally for operations and not for facilities.
A while back, I compared the $87 million for a city the size of Milwaukee to the $124.9 million passed in 2018 in Wauwatosa, with a much smaller population. A reader said that was not a good comparison because the Tosa plan was for facilities and was to be paid over 20 years. A fair criticism, although property taxes in Tosa still jumped. The MPS increase would exceed $120 million in its second year.
Does MPS need more money?
Well, different people would have different opinions, of course. The $87 million comes to about 9% of the current MPS operating budget. If you look at what is reaching into classrooms, it is clear that students in many schools do not have the same offerings, resources and class sizes as students in other school districts.
The state-set revenue cap for MPS is right about the state average of between $10,000 to $11,000 per student per year. The MPS cap is less than many (but not all) surrounding districts. And if you add in federal aid, MPS is one of the highest spending districts in the area, at more than $14,000 per student. But most people agree that it takes more to serve large numbers of kids living in poverty.
What would this money be used for?
The language on the ballot says it would go to “sustaining and expanding educational programming, including more career and technical education programs, attracting and retaining certified educators, and expanding art, music, physical education and language programs.”
Supporters say the money would be a good step toward giving students what they need and deserve. Critics say the language offers few specifics and express doubt that it would be spent effectively.
Would it have an effect on student outcomes?
One would hope so, but there are no specific goals or plans related to things such as better reading and math skills. Art and music are good and so are career-prep programs. But MPS kids overall have a big list of problems that the referendum doesn’t (and almost surely can’t) address.
What would this cost Milwaukeeans?
MPS projects that passing the extra spending would increase property taxes in the city annually by about $160 for each $100,000 in assessed value.
Who is in favor of the referendum?
You have to start with the teachers union and the eight (out of nine) school board members who voted to put this on the ballot. The union and MPS employees have been fueling the vote-yes-for-MPS campaign.
Who is opposed?
Opposition has been somewhat muted, in part because even many critics agree MPS needs more money and the city needs a healthy MPS. No organized antireferendum campaign has occurred.
But critics disagree that the referendum is the way to pursue these goals. The business establishment, which is to say the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, has raised a lot of questions about how the money would be used, who would benefit and whether central needs would be addressed.
Nearly half the children of Milwaukee who are getting publicly funded educations are not in MPS schools. They’re in private schools and charter schools that would get nothing out of this, and which receive substantially less public funding per student.
Leaders of some of those schools have called for pursuing other paths that would help all the kids in the city, such as uniting around more funding statewide for early childhood programs and special education.
However, proposals like those have been rejected by the Republican-led Legislature as recently as a few weeks ago. And the projected state surplus that was then the focus of attention presumably has been wiped out by the dramatic tanking of the economy in recent days.
Opposition has been somewhat muted, in part because even many critics agree MPS needs more money. No organized anti-referendum campaign has occurred. But critics disagree that the referendum is the way to pursue these goals.
What happens if the referendum loses?
You could say nothing — things would stay the same. But the current reality is pretty concerning for MPS for reasons that go well beyond the referendum. And losing could make it harder to attract and retain good teachers and to reverse years of student enrollment decline. I’m guessing it would be a setback for MPS and not just a neutral matter.
Given the current astonishing realities, this may not be the best time to ask people to increase their taxes. Or maybe people want to rally around community needs. Or maybe at this point, not many people are going to tune in to this Super Bowl.
Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.