(The Center Square) – One of Milwaukee’s most prominent education reformers says it is good to hear Milwaukee Public Schools’ new superintendent talk about closing school buildings, but he says she needs to do more than talk.
Colleston Morgan Jr., the executive director at Milwaukee’s City Forward Collective, said MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius told the Journal Sentinel she may be open to a plan that could close some under-utilized schools but not before 2027 at the earliest.
“MPS faces a $100M+ budget gap. Rightsizing 5-6 schools, 2-3 years from now simply isn’t enough,” Morgan wrote on social media Tuesday.
Milwaukee Public Schools have lost more than 35,000 students since 2006. In all, Milwaukee is seeing more than 11,000 fewer students at all schools in the same nearly two decades.
“MPS enrollment declines stretch back to at least 2006,” he added. “And, to be clear – for at least the last decade, this hasn’t been about exits to public charters & private schools using vouchers.”
The two plans presented to MPS leaders earlier this year would close either five or six schools but would then see more money spent on the new schools where those students go.
Morgan said this is not simply a problem of open or available classrooms. He said this is a fiscal problem that MPS has largely ignored for years.
“MPS has a $1.6B annual budget – and a larger tax take than the [City of Milwaukee],” he wrote on X. “What’s needed now is stewardship.”
Morgan is touting a City Forward Collective Poll from last fall that shows 57% of voters support closing or consolidating schools, compared to just 31% who want to raise taxes to keep Milwaukee’s half-empty schools open.
“[Milwaukee’s] residents understand this reality: they support rightsizing, especially when given information,” Morgan added on X.
