Milwaukee has been asking the same question for decades: When will Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) finally change? And decade after decade, the answer has been the same, it won’t. Not under its current structure. Not with its current bureaucracy. Not with a Central Office that grows while classrooms starve.
Mayor Tom Barrett among others, floated decentralization some years ago. And in 2022, state Republicans also tried to circulate a bill as well. It was met with disdain by Democratic Governor Tony Evers, the “education governor.”
It is time to revisit the topic especially if we get a Governor Tom Tiffany in office.
Milwaukee Public Schools is failing children at a scale that should shake this entire state. It is not a new crisis. It is a generational one. And at some point, we must stop pretending that “more time” or “more money” or “more patience” will fix a system that has shown no ability or desire to want to fix itself.
We are all paying for the failures of MPS.
According to NAEP data reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 73% of fourth‑grade students score below basic reading level, and only 9% are proficient.
These numbers are devastating. They represent thousands of children who struggle academically for the rest of their lives because the system failed them early.
Enrollment continues to decline. Families are fleeing to Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program, which is seeing record growth. Parents understand that MPS is a sinking ship. They are making informed decisions to protect their families.
Meanwhile, MPS is staring down a $46 million deficit, and once again, the cuts will hit classrooms and hardly Central Office where the dysfunction lives.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius earns over $300,000 a year, with bonuses and allowances built into her contract. Many Central Office administrators earn between $107,000 and $320,000 annually. Some administrators have been in the system for decades, presiding over failure after failure, yet continue to receive promotions and raises.
MPS has a significantly higher ratio of administrators to students than the Wisconsin average. That is unacceptable. This is not a school district. It is an administrative boondoggle.
Decentralizing MPS and breaking it into smaller, community‑anchored districts would allow each region of Milwaukee to govern itself, budget for itself, and design curriculum that reflects its children and its community.
Local accountability means parents can actually reach the people making decisions and be active in those decisions immediately.
Tailored curriculum allows North Division or South Division for example, to address their own issues. Both schools have unique needs that are far different because their students and communities are different.
Community‑based districts strengthen trust and involvement. The “one-size-fits-all” central bureaucracy is not working for MPS.
Reduced bureaucracy frees resources for classrooms instead of administrators.
Milwaukee is a city of distinct neighborhoods. Yet MPS insists on forcing every school into the same mold. It is the educational equivalent of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Since Black and white disparities are a massive problem for MPS, the Black community affected the most would have an immediate impact in outcomes for our children.
If Milwaukee’s Black community wants to close the racial achievement gap, decentralization offers a direct path to influence. Smaller districts would allow Black parents, educators, and leaders to shape policy, curriculum, and resource allocation and not beg Central Office for change that never comes.
Our children deserve leadership that sees them as more than pawns in a political game. They deserve an educational system that responds to their needs, not one that hides behind bureaucracy.
How many more generations must be sacrificed? How many more children must fall behind before Milwaukee admits the truth: MPS cannot save itself.
Milwaukee must demand structural change now.
These are our babies. Their futures are not disposable. Decentralization may not be a perfect solution, but continuing the status quo is guaranteed failure. No one wins when MPS fails.
