The two candidates competing to be Milwaukee’s next mayor shared their ideas for improving schools in forums over the last couple weeks.
Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson and former alderman Bob Donovan answered questions from parents at separate events hosted by City Forward Collective and Rocketship Public Schools, which operates two charter schools in Milwaukee.
The parent panels started by outlining some grim education data for the city of Milwaukee: one in three Milwaukee students attend schools (public, charter and choice) that don’t meet state expectations. Students with disabilities, Black students and low-income students are even more likely to attend low-performing schools.
Neither Johnson nor former Donovan offered detailed plans for improving those numbers.
Donovan said he would appoint an education advisory board, and that he wants to take a more active role in education than previous mayor Tom Barrett.
"I would want to take an active role," Donovan said. "It is far too important to the future of this city to not be involved – and the future of our kids. So yes, I would exercise the bully pulpit which I don’t think has been used too much in the past when it comes to education. And I would commit myself to working with the various schools, their principals, their leadership. Let’s find out what the problems are."
Johnson said as mayor, he would work to improve living conditions for Milwaukee families so children are more ready to learn.
"A mayor’s got an opportunity to affect the situation if a kid is hungry," Johnson said. "A mayor can affect if there’s instability in the lives of a young person because their family doesn’t have access to family-supporting work. A mayor has got the opportunity to affect issues of trauma if those students live in a neighborhood where there’s violence. So I see those, and I bring my power as mayor to bear, to affect those things so people can have better educational attainment when they go into the classroom."
Milwaukee’s competitive education landscape came up for both candidates. Donovan, who attended Catholic schools, said he supports expanding school choice. Under Milwaukee’s choice program, low and moderate-income families can receive taxpayer-funded tuition vouchers for private schools.
"I’ve always been a supporter of school choice," Donovan said. "I believe we need to give our parents the best choices possible. I would support expanding that so that we can, again, give our parents the best choices."
Johnson, an MPS grad with three school-aged kids, said he’ll be an advocate for students in MPS, choice and charter schools.
"My son attends a Milwaukee Public Schools middle school, my daughters are going to attend MPS when they get to K4," Johnson said. "As mayor I recognize that’s where the majority of kids, at least presently, get education from. But I’ve got the responsibility to be leader that affects the educational attainment for all kids in Milwaukee – that’s the lens from which I view it."
When asked about how to address Milwaukee’s achievement gap, Donovan talked about encouraging students to read.
"That is the most valuable gift any child can receive because it allows them to continue their education for the rest of their lives," Donovan said. "I believe there are opportunities to get mentors into our classrooms much more. I would want to see tutoring programs expanded so that we’re not leaving kids behind or graduating kids that haven’t achieved a level – that’s a terrible thing to do to a child."
Johnson talked about helping families and neighborhoods find stability through good-paying jobs. He used his own family as an example, saying his children have been protected from the instability he experienced growing up.
"We moved around so much and I attended six different elementary schools," Johnson said. "But my own children, my three children, they don’t have that instability. And they are smarter, they are stronger for it."
Both Johnson and Donovan said they want to help Milwaukee reach its full potential, and good schools are key part of realizing that.
The mayoral election is April 5.
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