Lower quality. Higher prices. Board hasn't made case for MPS referendum. | Opinion

Imagine that there is a barber or salon where you’ve been going to get your hair cut for years. However, over time the quality of the haircut has been declining. A few years ago, the owner told you he was increasing prices so that he could invest in his store and do a better job. You started paying more, but little changed. In fact, the quality kept going down and even fewer customers stayed loyal. Now, he’s asked you again to accept a second larger price increase to get back on track. He promises that this time it will be different, although he won’t offer any concrete explanations of what is going to change. Would you keep going to his shop or would you move on? 

This is exactly what the Milwaukee Public School system wants you to approve on April 2 — higher prices for lower quality without any accountability. We now have in Milwaukee a real-world illustration of the definition of insanity:  doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Less than five years ago, MPS passed an $87 million referendum which resulted in Milwaukee property taxes going up. In addition, the district received almost $800 million of one-time financial support from the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, quality went down as did attendance. More money, worse results. MPS put an additional quarter-billion dollar referendum on the April 2 ballot, again which would be paid for through increased property taxes.

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Combined, these property tax hikes will result in a Milwaukee family with a $200,000 home paying nearly double what a West Bend family pays in school district-related property taxes on a similar home. All this comes as homeowners and renters struggle with the recent effects of inflation, paying more for groceries, gas, and other necessities. Milwaukee now ranks third amongst a dozen Midwest cities in its cost of housing. If this referendum passes Milwaukee residents will be squeezed further.

Referendum lacks details on how dollars will improve outcomes

This proposed referendum, like the earlier one, comes void of specifics or details on how it will improve educational outcomes. Only 16% of MPS students are testing at grade level in reading, and in math its less than 10%; these statistics are even worse for people of color. In 44 MPS schools less than 10 students in each school are on grade level. What gives the students, parents, and taxpayers any sense that we can expect different results from a new permanent 26% increase in property taxes?

I’ve written other op-ed pieces detailing the decline of MPS and the critical need for change. Parents of almost half of K-12 students in the city are using public funding to attend other schools in the city. Further contributing to the disconnect with MPS, families attending non-MPS schools will see their property tax burden rise without any added resources for their children. Ultimately, this will put our kids at a greater disadvantage leaving them further behind.  Moreover, MPS has seen a 24% decline in students per building since 2000, which has resulted in a significant overspend on buildings at the cost of classroom resources. Hiking property taxes while running inefficiently is perpetuating the same fiscal challenges, and we should not expect a different result from this new referendum.

Milwaukee’s future is built on the prospects of its youth. MPS is a vital part of a K-12 system that we all rely on to provide quality education. But we cannot continue to raise property taxes and expect a different outcome. If this referendum passes, we will never achieve Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s goal of getting Milwaukee’s population to one million residents. The referendum will have the opposite effect — hollowing out Milwaukee’s middle class even further. The only residents left will be those too poor to move or those affluent enough to withstand such high property taxes. Working, middle-class families will vote with their feet. Do we really want this kind of a city?

MPS needs to address bloated bureaucracy, boost quality

Northwestern Mutual is committed to Milwaukee and to improving the educational outcomes of its residents. We are the largest commercial property taxpayer in the city and through our philanthropic efforts, Northwestern Mutual voluntarily invests millions more of our policyowners capital in education — well beyond what we fund through our property taxes.  But here’s the key point:  Our opposition to the referendum isn’t about more funding, it’s about quality and accountability.  

Last year, the Mayor and the County Executive asked the community to support an increase in the sales tax.  That was a difficult decision, which I supported.  But it came after considerable public discussion at both the state and local level, a clear plan on how the new funds would be used, and accountability if that plan is not fulfilled. Before the public supports this additional tax increase MPS needs a demonstrable plan to improve educational outcomes, it needs accountability, and it needs to address a bloated infrastructure that draws funds away from its classrooms.  

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Nothing in MPS District’s quarter-billion-dollar referendum proposal gives anyone cause for optimism or accountability. MPS placed the referendum on the ballot at the last minute with minimal public input. The ballot language does not even explain that the funding requested by MPS comes from increased property taxes. This April voters should send a clear message, more of the same is not acceptable, and vote this referendum down. We must stop the insanity.

Rejecting this referendum is not a rejection of public schools; it is a call for long-needed accountability. We owe it to taxpayers. We owe it to employers. We owe it to parents. But most of all, we owe it to our students.

John Schlifske is Chairman and CEO of Northwestern Mutual.