Milwaukee school funding is a lifeline. Students deserve better than more cuts. | Opinion

With the massive amounts of money being spent by wealthy special interests to influence our politics, it can be hard to determine what’s true and what’s not. Often the best way to get to the bedrock truth isn’t by fact-checking the various claims these special interests make, it’s by considering the motivations of the people making them.

The current school referendum debate is a perfect example. Just about every public school district in Wisconsin is experiencing a shortfall due to the state purposefully underfunding them. Recently, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce launched a committee to oppose the desperately needed referendum for Milwaukee Public Schools but none of the others seeking taxpayer approval.

The group spent $424,921 opposing the MPS referendum through March 18, but we won’t know the full amount they’re spending until July, due to Wisconsin’s campaign finance reporting cycle. Nearly all of the money spent so far was a direct contribution from MMAC, with the remainder coming from an in-kind contribution from MMAC partner organization “City Forward Collective.” Prior to the PAC launch, MMAC member and Northwestern Mutual CEO John Schlifske come out with an op-ed calling for the rejection of this lifeline for Milwaukee’s critically underfunded public schools. 

Why would the association oppose funding that would enable hiring and pay increases for teachers at the very schools that serve the communities in which they do business? Well, for starters, its leader, Dale Kooyenga, a former Republican state senator from Brookfield, has been one of the staunchest supporters of unaccountable private school vouchers.

As far back as 2015, he spearheaded a plan called the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program, better known by public education advocates as the “MPS Takeover” bill. Thankfully, he failed. It’s a good thing he did, because similar efforts to take over local schools (most famously New Orleans post-Katrina) were disastrous for students and their families. Sadly, being anti-public school is nothing new for MMAC. The 2015 Takeover was nothing more than an unwanted Hollywood remake of an earlier bill from 2010 which would have enabled a mayoral takeover of MPS.

It's more difficult for corporations to dodge property taxes

There’s still the question of why the chamber would oppose a school referendum in the state’s economic engine and most populous city. After all, the group supported sales tax increases in the City and County of Milwaukee last year, which were negotiated as a part of the shared revenue bill.

The difference is who gets taxed. Sales taxes are mostly paid by consumers, while large businesses game the system to keep their costs down. Property taxes, on the other hand, are harder to circumvent, and remain a significant expense for companies with large physical footprints. A quick trip to the Milwaukee City Assessor’s website shows that Northwestern Mutual alone owns properties totaling at least $420 million in assessed value. Any increase in property tax would reduce profits for their shareholders.

Let’s imagine for a moment that the anti-MPS referendum crowd wasn’t actually just being self-interested in their opposition to much-needed school funding in our state’s largest district. Let’s pretend they were actually concerned about outcomes for public school students. Why then, is nobody lobbying against the 100 other school referendums taking place in 90 other communities this spring across Wisconsin, or the dozens more that are likely to occur this fall? What is it about Milwaukee’s referendum that has their tempers flaring?

Milwaukee public schools serve diverse community with high poverty

Milwaukee’s public schools serve a tremendously diverse population with some of the highest rates of poverty, percentage of students with special needs, and numbers of English language learners of any district in the state. For all these reasons, educating these students with the services they deserve costs more money than your average suburban district, some of which have higher per-pupil revenue limits than MPS. And yet, despite the inherent advantages that districts in affluent suburban communities have, many of them are facing their own funding shortfalls, and are also considering referendums to keep the lights on.

MMAC’s smear campaign against the referendum tries to frame their efforts as protecting families hard-hit by rising costs of everyday items like groceries. While inflation is real, their concern for the families actually affected by it is not. After all, they had no problem lobbying in favor of the new Brewers subsidy last fall that gave away $500 million to a profitable corporation, including $135 million from taxpayers in Milwaukee County alone. That’s double the amount MPS is currently seeking and, incidentally, there was no referendum asking you if you wanted to chip in. 

They also question MPS’ accountability, even though MMAC members benefit from the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit, which has cost our neighbors across Wisconsin over $2.9 billion since 2012, and includes no requirements to create or retain jobs, or pay workers a living wage. To put that in perspective, even if every school referendum being considered across the state this spring were to pass to make up for state-level underfunding, it would only cost $1.67 billion.

Anyone studying history knows the leaders of the anti-MPS referendum effort don’t actually want MPS to succeed, and are only looking out for themselves. Properly funded schools may eat into their profit margins a bit, but it would certainly enrich the lives of the community they put their buildings in. When voters are bombarded with anti-public education ads between now and April 2, I hope they will consider the source, and the alternative.

Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, represents District 7 in the Wisconsin State Senate.