Milwaukee Public Schools
Address
5225 West Vliet Street Milwaukee , Wisconsin, 53208 United States
Coordinates	43°02′55″N 87°58′47″W / 43.04861°N 87.97972°W / 43.04861; -87.97972
District information
Type	Public school district
Grades	Pre-K – 12
Established	1846 (1846)
Superintendent	Keith P. Posley
Schools	156[1]
NCES District ID	5509600[1]
Students and staff
Enrollment	69,115 (2021-2022)[1]
Teachers	4,269.89[1]
Staff	4,286.65[1]
Student–teacher ratio	16.19:1[1]
Other information
Website	www.milwaukee.k12.wi.us

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is the largest school district in Wisconsin. As of the 2015–16 school year, MPS served 75,568 students in 154 schools and had 9,636 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions.^[2] The system is one of the largest in the United States by enrollment. A publicly elected school board, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, provides direction and oversight, with a superintendent heading the organization's administration.

The district includes all portions of Milwaukee in Milwaukee County, which means it includes almost all of Milwaukee.^[3]

Milwaukee Public Schools' offerings include neighborhood schools, specialty schools and charter schools serving students from age 3 through grade 12.

History

In winter 1836 the first public school in Milwaukee opened. The school board was established in 1846.^[4]

In 1990 the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law which allowed MPS-zoned students to attend private schools on school vouchers.^[5]

In 2008 the district had 78,148 students.^[6]

In 2013 the group Public Policy Forum published a report which compared MPS schools with Milwaukee Parental Choice Program private schools (the ones which take school voucher students). According to the report, the MPS schools had slightly better student performance.^[7]

In fall 2022 the district had 58,136 students.^[6]

Programs

Specialty programs in MPS include arts schools such as Milwaukee High School of the Arts; career and technical education schools such as Lynde & Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School; gifted and talented schools such as Golda Meir School; International Baccalaureate and college prep high schools such as Rufus King International School - High School Campus, Riverside University High School and Ronald Reagan College Preparatory High School; language immersion schools including French, German, Italian, and Spanish immersion elementary schools and Milwaukee School of Languages for middle- and high-school students; and a large number of Montessori schools.

The district owns WYMS-FM (88.9), which airs an eclectic selection of music and is programmed by a local non-profit group via an LMA.

Performance

While overall reading and math proficiency rates are below the state average and below those of some other large city districts, the district did see some growth in scores in both subjects and both grades tested on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress^[8] and on the 2012–13 state standardized tests, MPS students, on the whole, outperformed Milwaukee students receiving publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools.^[9]

School district officials note declining funding as a catalyst to problems in the district.^[10] However, local journalists have cited school officials as lacking in motivation to improve the system.^[11][12]

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in its 2011−12 School District Performance Report listed Milwaukee's regular diploma graduation rate at 66.2%.

In 2012, Rufus King International School – High School Campus was ranked the 130th best public high school in the nation,^[13] making it the top performing school in the state of Wisconsin. Ronald Reagan College Preparatory High School was ranked second in Wisconsin, while Milwaukee School of Languages was ranked seventh.

Charter schools

In 1990, Milwaukee became the first community in the United States to adopt a school voucher program. The program enables students to receive public funding to study at parochial and other private schools free of cost. The 2006−07 school year marked the first time that more than $100 million was paid in vouchers, as 26% of Milwaukee students receive public funding to attend schools outside the MPS system.^[14] If the voucher program alone were considered a school district, it would mark the sixth-largest district in Wisconsin.

Under Wisconsin state law, the Milwaukee school board is one of several entities that can authorize charter schools in the city. Other authorities that can authorize charter schools are the Milwaukee City Council, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Area Technical College Board.^[15] The first charter school in Milwaukee was the Highland Community School, a Montessori elementary school authorized by Milwaukee Public Schools in 1996.^[16]

Schools

An asterisk (*) indicates a charter school.

See also

• WI FACETS

References

Further reading

• Greene, Jay P. (March 2009). "The Effect of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program on Student Achievement in Milwaukee Public Schools SCDP Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program Report #11" (PDF). School Choice Demonstration Project, Department of Education Reform, University of Arkansas – via Education Resources Information Center.
• Kean, Carol Judy (1983). The Origins of Vocational Education in the Milwaukee Public Schools, 1870–1917: A Case Study in Curricular Change (Wisconsin). University of Wisconsin - Madison/ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. - PhD thesis - See on the University of Wisconsin search engine
• Nelsen, James K. (2012). "From No Choice to Forced Choice to School Choice: A History of Educational Options in Milwaukee Public Schools". University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. (History PHD thesis)
• Nelsen, James K. (2015). Educating Milwaukee: How One City’s History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. ISBN 9780870207204.

External links

• Official website