Public school advocates are planning a march and rally in Milwaukee on Saturday, partly in response to talks of a “recovery school district.”
Recently, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) heard presentations about recovery school districts in Tennessee and Louisiana, in which the state takes over the running of some chronically low-performing schools.
Public education advocates believe the business group wants a similar program in Milwaukee. But MMAC President Tim Sheehy says a Milwaukee recovery district is not on the front burner.
“We have no specific plans for a recovery district in Milwaukee,” says Sheehy. “Our goal is to continue to expose people to ideas about what’s working in urban education.”
The recovery school idea was the target of one protest outside the commerce's group's offices this week, and will be part of the discussion tomorrow at a march and rally titled “Public Education Is A Civil Right.”
Retired Milwaukee Public Schools Principal Richard Cohn, who is helping organize the rally, says the recovery districts are part of an agenda to undermine public education.
“It’s not really about solving some of the problems that our children are having in schools,” says Cohn. “It’s more about how schools are funded and political control over education.”
Cohn says even though the state put more money into school aid this year, he says it wasn't enough. At the same time, privately run voucher schools have been expanded.
