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