PPF Pearls: State investment in workforce development

As Governor Walker prepares his biennial budget, anticipation is building over whether he will propose additional state investment for workforce development. The Public Policy Forum’s July 2012 report on Wisconsin’s workforce development system identified 36 programs in nine state departments that provided employment and training services in fiscal year 2012, and found that a vast majority of the $407 million supporting those programs came from federal sources, with only $34 million (8%) contributed by the state.

The state contributed funds for 13 of the 36 workforce programs it administered in 2012, with nearly half of the state funding going to vocational rehabilitation. According to Competitive Wisconsin’s recently-released Be Bold 2 report, $19.3 million of the state’s total contributions were matching funds required by federal programs, while only $14.7 million represented state appropriations.

Past Forum research has indicated that Wisconsin may be more dependent on federal funding for workforce development than neighboring states, and has shown that federal funding has been decreasing over the long term, a trend that does not appear likely to change in the near future due to the current fiscal pressures facing the federal government.

The governor will present his budget in February.

PPF Pearls: School reform and the new mayor in town

When the Forum took a look at school district governance reform in a February 2009 report, we found the success of mayoral control of school districts has as much to do with the personality of the mayor as with his/her education policies. That finding is about to be put to the test in two cities where mayors with strong education records soon will be leaving office.

The education reform world was abuzz with the loss in the Democratic primary of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray, wondering what it would mean for education reform in that city. Mayor Fenty's vision of reform resulted in his appointment of Michelle Rhee as Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools. Ms. Rhee has been a polarizing figure to educators across the country due to her ardent and aggressive approach to school leadership. During her 3.5 years as chancellor, the district has reached agreement on merit pay for teachers, reversed an enrollment decline, and seen an improvement in test scores and graduation rates.

The suspicion that Ms. Rhee, having campaigned for Mayor Fenty, would resign following Fenty’s loss was confirmed last week with the announcement of her successor, interim chancellor Kaya Henderson. Gray has indicated he would refrain from reversing Ms. Rhee’s reforms, saying the district “cannot and will not return to the days of incrementalism." Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the reform momentum will continue.

Meanwhile, a similar story is unfolding in Chicago, where Mayor Richard Daley has announced that he will step down as mayor after 22 years in office. That announcement resulted in less drama in education policy circles, perhaps because the school system has survived the loss of the mayor's first hand-picked School CEO, Paul Vallas, as well as his second, Arne Duncan, who left the city two years ago to become U.S. Secretary of Education. Ron Huberman, the current CEO of Chicago Public Schools, has hinted that his continued tenure is uncertain, with his departure possibly preceding that of Mayor Daley.

While Chicago schools have weathered CEO changes, the city has not experienced a mayoral change since the system first became mayoral-led. Chicago has a long history with Mayor Daley, who served as the common thread to the reforms of prior CEOs. With his departure, continuation of his reforms hinges on the priorities of the incoming administration. Education can be expected to be a key issue in the next Chicago mayoral election.

But the political changes are not the only uncertainty facing these districts right now. Mayor Daley and Chancellor Rhee were both very successful in attracting significant corporate resources to their districts. Daley's Renaissance 2010 initiative has been supported by the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group of several Chicago business leaders, and several other local and national foundations, raising $50 million over the last five years to close and replace up to 100 underperforming schools.

Rhee has attracted private donations that totaled $64.5 million from entities like the Walton Foundation to help fund a new pay-for-performance model of teacher compensation. Contributing foundations have reserved the ability to withdraw this funding should Rhee leave the district. Now that Rhee has resigned, it is uncertain whether or not the money will leave D.C. as well.

As transitions play out in Washington and Chicago, the rest of the nation will be watching. Will the new mayors have the political capital needed to follow through with significant reforms? Will the new district leaders be able to push equally bold policy when backed by young administrations?

PPF Pearls: Rating the parks' amenities

Yesterday's newstory regarding the poor conditions of the restrooms in some Milwaukee County parks could have been written six years ago. Throughout the summer of 2002, the Forum sent trained assessors into the county parks to rate them on amenities, recreation, and green space. The ratings were based on a four-point scale, roughly equivalent to letter grades.

While the Parks Department gave 11 individual restrooms an F grade, our assessors found nine parks in which the overall restroom score was below 2.0 (or below a D grade). The lowest scoring parks restrooms, at 1.5, were Holler and Cudahy parks.

While some of our poor park restroom ratings were surprising, such as a 1.8 score for the otherwise well-maintained Brown Deer Park, we found that the overall ratings for all the features in a park were highly correlated with certain neighborhood features.

The highest scoring parks overall were significantly more likely to be located in neighborhoods with higher percentages of white residents, with higher home values, and with higher median incomes. This relationship may or may not be causal. And, if causal, is not necessarily due to the neighborhood residents' treatment of the park. Spending decisions and priorities of the Parks Department may be influenced by the type of neighborhood in which a park is located.

However, this week's newstory seems to indicate that the Parks Department is using data regarding relative conditions among parks to make spending decisions. Nevertheless, a tight county budget will mean not all needs can be met in all parks. Our 2002 report examined several alternative scenarios for generating more revenue to fund park maintenance and improvements. For example, had a $0.83 per $1,000 property tax rate been dedicated to the parks in 2002, it would have generated over $40 million in tax revenue in 2008, based on the growth in property values since then.

Without a solution to declining tax levy support for parks maintenance, or a re-evaluation of just how many parks we can realistically support, Milwaukee County residents can expect only more poor ratings for our parks' amenities.

PPF Pearl: Growth in school choice program not what it seems

Alan Borsuk's article in today's Journal Sentinel could lead one to believe that growth in the voucher program necessarily comes at the expense of MPS enrollment. However, our research shows the recent growth in voucher use comes mostly from existing private school students, not public school students switching to private schools. The lifting of the program's enrollment cap was accompanied by some changes in eligibility, which made more private school students able to take advantage of the publicly-funded voucher program.

When we analyzed the voucher use and enrollment data last year as part of our annual census of choice schools, we found that while voucher use in private schools had grown by 2,516 students, enrollment had grown by only 620 students. For example, the Lutheran schools as a whole had 467 more voucher users, but total enrollment grew by only 1 student. The only Jewish school in the program actually had 2 fewer students, but 31 more voucher users.

These findings help explain why, as Borsuk's article states, "[MPS] test scores and other indicators continue to lag behind the state and have not changed dramatically." The program is not exerting competitive pressure on MPS. In 2006, 80% of voucher users were enrolled in religious schools. Are these schools truly competitors with MPS? The data indicate that parents are making choices based on religion, not on the availability of a voucher. From our report:

How can MPS be expected to compete with a program consisting mainly of religious schools that attract students who most likely would never have been public school students?

Growth in voucher use is certainly growth in publicly-funded education, as the article explains. Unfortunately, simply making the public education pie bigger doesn't seem to be encouraging MPS to get better.

PPF Pearls: Improving school choice

Professor Paul Hill of the University of Washington has called for stronger governmental oversight of school choice programs in the latest issue of Education Week, noting that "...when one school neglects a student or doesn't pay its bills, government agencies crack down on everyone. Schools need oversight that is capable and fair, not negligent."

Prof. Hill also recommends that choice schools "prove themselves on the same tests as other schools," since "early hopes that charter and voucher schools would be so obviously great that no finely calibrated outcomes measured would be needed to prove it have been dashed."

The Forum would agree with those recommendations, as our research over the past 10 years has consistently revealed a need for more accountability in school choice.

Our first study, issued in 1997, interviewed parents in Milwaukee and Cleveland, the first two cities with publicly-funded private school choice, and found they felt they needed more information about their schooling choices. We then conducted two public opinion surveys in Wisconsin and Ohio and found consensus among the general public for having an agency, either independent or governmental, oversee and collect information about choice schools and for requiring schools to provide to the public information such as test scores.

For a comprehensive understanding of the need for greater accountability in publicly-funded school choice, as well as recommended policy options for improving choice programs, read School Choice and the Question of Accountability: The Milwaukee Experience, which resulted from the Forum's many years of research on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.

UPDATE: Mike Ford of School Choice Wisconsin sent the following in response to this post. Mike is right that schools participating in the voucher program must now take standardized tests; however, these test scores will be used to study how the choice program performs in the aggregate as compared to MPS. Scores will not be reported on a school-by-school basis.

Anneliese,
Your blog post today, "Improving school choice," fails to mention the additional accountability in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) since your book was published. Today, MPCP schools face a rigorous accreditation process, take nationally normed standardized tests as part of a longitudinal study (results of which will be reported to the state Legislative Audit Bureau and publicly released), and must meet a multitude of financial viability requirements. The barriers to enter and stay in the MPCP are significant, as evidenced by the number of schools removed from and prevented from entering the program.
Reasonable people can have differing opinion on whether this is enough accountability, but I think it would benefit your blog's readers to mention these new requirements.
Thanks for listening,
Mike

PPF Pearls: Parks budget mowed again

(click image to enlarge)

The Forum's 2002 comprehensive analysis of the Milwaukee County Parks system's condition and financial stability found that by 2000, spending on the parks had declined to two-thirds of what it was in the 1970's. Today's news that the parks department budget may be cut by $4.3 million begs the question: At what point is property tax support for park system no longer sustainable?

At this point, the proposed 2008 tax levy support for the parks department is $21.3 million, an almost 10% decline since 2000, when adjusted for inflation. In fact, the proposed $21.3 million, when adjusted for inflation, is exactly in line with the decline projected in our 2002 report: if the trend is not interrupted, we anticipate tax levy support for parks in 2016 to be $13.1 million. This decline in property tax levy support is an indicator that the county budget puts the parks department ever lower on the priority list.

Milwaukee citizens and policymakers wanting to revisit the notion of dedicated, independent funding for the parks are encouraged to read our 2002 report for an analysis of the options.

NOTE: PPF Pearls are regular blog posts highlighting findings from past PPF reports.

PPF Pearls: The Constitutionality of Chapter 220

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that invalidated voluntary school integration programs in Seattle and Louisville, obviously has implications for the Milwaukee area's own voluntary integration effort, the Chapter 220 program. What implications, exactly, are unclear--Justice Kennedy, while joining in the outcome, declined to join the majority opinion, which found that racial classifications cannot be used to assign students to schools. Justice's Kennedy's opinion leaves open the possibility that racial classifications could be appropriate when used among other factors. Expect further litigation to tease out exactly what weight, if any, school districts can place on race.

The Chapter 220 program uses race as the only criterion for participation, allowing minority students from Milwaukee to enroll in schools in the suburbs, as well as white students from the suburbs to enroll in schools in Milwaukee. The program's only goal, according to the legislative history, was integration. In fact, in signing the bill, Governor Lucey emphasized that it would achieve its intended results immediately. (See the Forum report, "Interdistrict Chapter 200: Changing Goals and Perspectives.")

For a discussion of the legal issues of Chapter 220, including many relevant cases from the federal appellate courts, see the Forum's publication, "Publicly Funded School Choice Options in Milwaukee: An Examination of the Legal Issues." (Link to executive summary only. The full report is available from the Forum offices: 414-276-8240.)

NOTE: PPF Pearls are regular blog entries highlighting findings from past PPF reports.