Milwaukee activists have organized the largest coalition on education issues since the desegregation struggles of the late 1970s: the Milwaukee Coalition to Stop the MPS Takeover. The coalition is a response to the August 2009 announcement by Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor James Doyle and Milwaukee’s Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett that they would push to transfer control of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) from the elected nine-person school board to the mayor. The governor claimed that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had assured him that, if that change was made, Race to the Top monies would be forthcoming to Wisconsin. Significant sectors of the area’s business community, many of whom have been ardent privatization and voucher advocates, lined up to support the takeover proposal.
Convened by members of the Educators’ Network for Social Justice and the NAACP, the Milwaukee Coalition to Stop the MPS Takeover has 28 organizational members, including the teacher unions (both AFT and NEA affiliates), SEIU, religious organizations, the ACLU, Rethinking Schools, Voces de la Frontera, Milwaukee 9to5, and numerous other civil rights, community, and parent groups. They have organized rallies and press conferences, picketed at legislator’s homes and city hall, distributed thousands of flyers, and appeared on local radio shows.
The significance of the Milwaukee struggle goes far beyond the city limits. Duncan has made mayoral control of urban school systems a cornerstone of his educational agenda. Critics see his strategy as an attack on teachers unions and community control, as well as a major step towards the privatization of public schools. If the Milwaukee coalition succeeds in stopping the mayoral takeover, it will be a major victory for public control of public education.
The coalition and supporters like Milwaukee Congresswoman Gwen Moore convinced the legislature not to act on the governor’s proposal during its regular fall session. The governor is expected to either call a special session of the legislature in December or push his plan when the regular session starts again in January.
In the meantime, the coalition continues to organize. For more information: www.ensj.org and http://millermps.wordpress.com/.