Wisconsin’s newly-elected school superintendent will be sworn-in during a ceremony in Milwaukee Monday. The head of the Department of Public Instruction faces several challenges, including taking the helm during tough economic times. WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson has more.
Voters this past spring chose Tony Evers to lead the Department of Public Instruction. He succeeds Elizabeth Burmaster who did not seek re-election. The superintendent’s job is to oversee the teacher licensing process, guarantee that school districts operate within their budgets and ensure the success of all students. To that end, Evers says it’s symbolic that today’s inauguration is taking place at a public school in Milwaukee.
“I wanted to make sure that I’m sending the message that we are very willing and eager to work with Milwaukee and Milwaukee’s parents and children to make sure they get the best education possible. It’ll send the message to the rest of the state that Milwaukee is very important to the state’s success and vice versa,” Evers says.
Evers says for the most part, the state of education in Wisconsin remains good. He says it leads the country in college test scores and graduates 90 percent of its students. However, nearly 80 schools this year failed to make progress in problem areas, and could face sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Also making that list is the entire Milwaukee Public School district. Evers says because MPS needs to improve, the city will be seeing more of him.
“The status quo is not sustainable nor can it be supported. We have a small office in Milwaukee that works with primarily disadvantaged kids trying to get them to go to college. We’ll be expanding our physical presence in Milwaukee and I will also be holding regular office hours there,” Evers says.
Evers says the goal is for elected and civic leaders to work together to improve the schools. One person who agrees that a spirit of cooperation is necessary to address school challenges is former MPS Superintendent Howard Fuller.
“The continued racial achievement gap, particularly as it relates to African-Americans. We’re trying to address that problem not only in Milwaukee but in Beloit, in Kenosha, in Racine and in other places where we have a significant minority population. That remains a huge issue,” Fuller says.
Fuller says further complicating matters are the budget constraints the new chief will face amidst a deep recession. The budget Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law last month slashes state aid to public schools by 2.5 percent in order to close a record deficit.
Faith Crampton of the UW-Milwaukee School of Education says even during good economic times, the formula Wisconsin uses to distribute school funding is flawed, and some districts don’t receive enough money.
“The state will come out of this recession just as every other state will and the economy will improve and level off and I think at that point what we’ll probably return to in the state is to look at some structural issues with the state funding system,” Crampton says.
Crampton hopes that eventually, the new superintendent will play a role in overhauling the school aid formula. School funding is one subject incoming chief Tony Evers says he plans to discuss in his travels across the state.
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