Posted on 01/28/2015 3:26:12 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The words “bizarre” and “hilariously tragic” aren’t normally associated with real estate transactions.
But there’s very little normal about the problems private schools and charter schools face when they try to buy one of Milwaukee Public Schools vacant school buildings.
“The whole thing was very, very bizarre,” Henry Tyson said, reflecting on his experience dealing with city and MPS officials.
Tyson, superintendent of St. Marcus Lutheran School, spent more than a year trying to buy one of the city’s vacant school building.
In 2013, St. Marcus, a highly regarded school that accepts voucher students through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, needed to add a second campus.
Its classrooms, from the K3 program serving 3 year olds through those for its oldest students in eighth grade, were full. The school had a waiting list of more than 300 students whose parents were eager for them to attend.
There were plenty of vacant MPS school buildings available. There still are, as a new report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty documents.
According to “Kids in Crisis, Cobwebs in the Classrooms,” there are 17 vacant public school buildings in Milwaukee and an estimated 27 more schools using less than 60 percent of their facilities.
On average, those vacant buildings have been empty for seven years.
'It's For The Children!' Yep. Sure. Whatever.
Where is Gov. Scott Walker on this?
Maybe finestein’s hubby could work a deal and make some big bucks.
Walker is not the Mayor of Milwaukee.
“The mayor’s assistant gave me a piece of paper with a second PILOT on it. They wanted us to pay an additional $1.3 million to cover what they said the city would lose by students using vouchers to go to our school,” he said.
“I just about jumped out my seat. I couldn’t believe they were serious proposing on a purchase of $880,000 what was basically a tax of $1.3 million,” Tyson said.
A “school choice tax” is how the WILL report describes this sort of payment Barrett wants from voucher schools that seek to purchase MPS buildings.
Barrett has long been dissatisfied with the way the voucher program is funded, saying it is unnecessarily expensive for the city.
The Mayor [Tom Barrett, whom Governor Walker defeated, twice!] told me if we didn’t want to pay this tax, I needed to go to Madison and get the Republicans to fix the way vouchers are funded,” Tyson recalled.
“Suddenly it all became clear. Somebody somewhere along the way had decided St. Marcus is the sort of the darling of the voucher movement — a program strongly associated with Republicans — so putting St. Marcus over a barrel would help get the funding changed.”
Fledermaus: Not sure it’s gotten to the Governor’s desk as of yet...but it sure proves what a SORE LOSERMAN Mayor Tom Barrett is! Milwaukee is a mess. My family escaped it in 1970.
Read Post #5. The Socialists in, ‘The People’s Republik of Milwaukeestan’ are all over it.
$1.3 MILLION ‘tax’ on an $800K building. ;)
“St. Marcus Lutheran School, spent more than a year trying to buy one of the city’s vacant school building. In 2013, St. Marcus, a highly regarded school that accepts voucher students through the Milwaukee...”
Oh, I think I see the “problem”.
One wonders (we not quite) what public schools are afraid of - competition, even in areas where aren't enough students to populate a public school???
Actually, there are enough students but no parents desiring to send their children to one run by the government, who would travel many miles to get to an overcrowded Christian school or resort to the choice of Home schooling.
I don't know about Wisconsin, but in KS it really isn't a matter of who is the sitting Governor but who owns and operates government schools! Our state government cannot force public school districts to sell "their" property to another entity, be that entity a school, Catholic, charter or Christian, or other.
A large school district in Johnson County, KS, after closing down a school desired to sell it and it's surrounding property to a developer who desired to put in high density housing and went to court to fight the neighbors, who rightfully claimed that the property wasn't zoned for such a thing, but with the help of the city (and the money changing hands among the city council and county commissioners) won!
Recently a middle school that had been newly improved planned to sell (again on behalf of the same district) their property to another developer who plans to put not only high density housing (meaning not single family residents) as well as include a senior living center that will include assisted living! Again all done behind homeowners who went to court to fight the school district AND their city, only to lose!
Schools districts care only about maintaining themselves as institutions, keeping their executives well paid, and retaining as many teachers as they can so they can justify so many well-paid executives.
Children’s education is close to last on their list of concerns.
“Where is Gov. Scott Walker on this?”
This is most likely a local issue, not state. It’s up to conservatives in school districts to attack local schoolboards and read those leftist commie scum the riot act.
Maddening, isn’t it? So many things that are KILLING our Nation just fly under the radar.
God Bless The Wisconsin Reporter! It is the ONLY conservative media outlet in our state.
Exactly.
Actually the headline is false. MPS will make it very easy (and profitable) to buy one of their empty schools if you can assure them that it will never be used as a school. In fact they will pay you to take it and then pay rent to use it. After all it is just tax money and as long as it stays out of the hands of any private school....
I remember many schools city empty throughout all of the City of Milwaukee. It would be nice to see some go to the Lutheran Churches that have schools. Oddly enough the only schools that are growing in Milwaukee area are the parochial schools. MPS Schools have standards so low that the parents are up in arms in sending their children to a MPS school. I can remember a niece whom was a music teacher in a Catholic School with the voucher program - the children coming from MPS schools were shocked that they actually had to learn when they were in school. The niece has moved to a catholic college in the area instead as a teacher, much happier and safer, to many times her cash for clunkers car was trashed.
Might be hard core Missouri Synod!
It’s Milwaukee, for Pete’s sake, MARXIST MILWAUKEE. What did you expect, sanity and equality?
Is this a great country or what? LOL!
Mark Belling has expounded on this at length on several occasions.
“Might be hard core Missouri Synod!”
The Horror! THE HORROR! :)
More people need a bit of @ss-kickin’ in church each Sunday! I am SO TIRED of ‘Passing the Peace’ or singing songs that are NOT in the Hymnal, or listening to yet ANOTHER reason our Congregation should ‘fund’ this or that. Grrrrrr!
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