TESTIFY TUESDAY @MPS 6:30ish

[jalinder]

MPS board to take up tax transparency proposal 

THIS TUESDAY EVENING 

@6:30ish, MPS CENTRAL OFFICE (5225 W. VLIET)  

CAN YOU ATTEND? 

The MPS board should pass Larry Miller's resolution for transparency with the voucher tax. But that doesn't mean there will not be conflict at the meeting. The issue has been receiving a fair amount of media attention, including by Charlie Sykes. Given the anti-teacher, anti-public school antics at the New Berlin School Board meeting in late August, the more public school supporters that we can have in the room Tuesday evening the better.  CAN YOU ATTEND AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION?

Why the call for transparency? The voucher funding flaw harms MPS students and Milwaukee property taxpayers. Last year the Voucher Tax reached $50 million and that number will grow since the cap has been lifted. For a public school parent this means that money is taken out of my daughter’s classroom to fund vouchers. And as a city of Milwaukee taxpayer, I will end up having higher property taxes if I want to try to make up for the money taken out of my own daughter’s school. Additionally, kids in voucher schools are not counted in the equalization aid funding formula. This means less equalization aid to Milwaukee—money that all of our schools need. 

We need policies that do not hide the cost of vouchers, including the impact they have on property taxes. And we need legislation to ensure that all of Milwaukee’s kids are counted. Susan Mitchell, president of School Choice Wisconsin, described Walker’s expansions of the voucher and charter programs as a “very bold move to give parents more choice in multiple ways.” This could not be farther from the truth. The MPCP appears to provide parents with more choices, but for the majority of parents who have their children in public schools, the expansion of vouchers is shutting down choices for our children, while it drives up our property taxes.