GUEST COLUMN: If MPS referendum fails, 13% cuts will be devastating to our students
From 2024 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, Claudia Heller de Messer, of Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts.
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My name is Claudia Heller de Messer. I teach English as a Second Language (ESL) at Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts, a K-8 public school on Milwaukee’s south side. I am a 2023 recipient of the Herb Kohl Award for outstanding teaching and was recognized as a 2024 Teacher of the Year by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
If the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) referendum fails on April 2, every single MPS school will face 13% cuts. That would have a direct, negative impact on the education of every Milwaukee child and family and would do irreparable harm to our community.
Our school, Parkside, would see severe cuts starting in August 2024 if the referendum does not pass.
Our students’ art instruction would be sharply decreased and a full-time art teacher would be laid off (at a school for the arts!). Currently, Parkside students have art twice per week. If the referendum fails, art education will be cut in half.
Our students would lose their Project Lead the Way teacher who focuses on science, technology, engineering and math instruction. Investment in these types of vocational and technical opportunities for children are proven to reap big dividends for the communities in which they are offered. Cutting them will only harm our students, their families and our community as a whole.
Our 4th - 8th grade students would lose their additional small group math and reading support, an opportunity that directly improves math performance for students who need targeted support. For those who focus on student math scores as a barometer for the success of schools – you can help improve those scores and our children’s ability to navigate complex problems by voting Yes for MPS.
Our students would lose their dance teacher, one of many special opportunities that are the reason students look forward to school and improve their chances at success dramatically.
We would also lose four paraprofessionals, a devastating loss of critical educational support staff who provide direct one-on-one and small group support and practice while teachers instruct the larger class. In the suburbs, it is the norm for every classroom to have a teacher and a paraprofessional. Students thrive and excel when they have ongoing small group and one-on-one feedback and support in reading, writing and math.
MPS students cannot afford to have a single teacher, paraprofessional or dollar cut from their educational opportunities. If the referendum fails, MPS stands to lose about 400 teachers and paraprofessionals, harming every student in every school in MPS.
Our students rely on their public schools to offer a full slate of curricular resources — librarians, physical education, art, and music education. All these experiences are critical to my students’ academic and social emotional learning and development. A student’s ZIP code should not dictate whether they will have access to a certified librarian, art teacher, music teacher, and physical education teacher.
Parkside students, with many classes enrolled at 30 to 35 students per class, need and deserve adequate staffing and support to succeed. A student’s ZIP code should not determine if they have the necessary adult staff to help them learn to read and write.
Nearly 75% of Parkside students are economically disadvantaged, and 27% of our students have disabilities and receive special education services, more than double the statewide average. About 13% of our students are English language learners. Parkside serves more than 120 English language learners who among them speak 22 languages. Many of my students’ families are recent immigrants or refugees, and some have lived in refugee camps.
Our students require more intensive staff support early on in their public education and deserve the same opportunities and staffing that students have in the suburbs, where many of the opponents of the referendum live and send their children to school.
Every parent, regardless of ZIP code, wants their child to learn in a classroom with an adequate number of adults to support their child’s growth, learning, and development. All MPS students deserve well-trained teachers and paraprofessionals in their classrooms to achieve their highest potential.
Our Milwaukee children are counting on voters to protect them from historic budget cuts.
Join me in voting “Yes for MPS” between now and April 2 to protect our students from devastating cuts that would harm their education, their future, and the future of our Milwaukee community.
This is a guest column by Claudia Heller de Messer, recipient of the 2024 Teacher of the Year award.
Claudia Heller de Messer earned her bachelor’s degree (1-9 Education, Spanish) from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and her master’s degree (Bilingual Education, English as a Second Language) from the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh. Claudia has been employed by Milwaukee Public Schools since 1997.
As an English Learner Specialist, Claudia supports and advocates for her students and their families both in the classroom and the Milwaukee community, as many of her students are recent refugees and immigrants to the United States.
Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Claudia currently resides in Milwaukee, Wis., with her husband and her two children.
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The state legislature needs to properly fund education. There are 91 referendums related to school funding on ballots around Wisconsin, 66% of them related to regular expenses, that school districts are unable to meet due to current funding. This at the same time we are told there is a $7.1 Billion state surplus, the highest ever. There is a double burden on state taxpayers, while we are asked to pay for the referendums, we are also paying into a system that is not properly funding schools.
It looks like a shell game. With all the school referendums that we have already seen across the state, and new referendums related to school funding in every election it seems clear that this is systemic, and not related to poor planning at the individual school districts.
It may be time to reconsider public funding of voucher schools. Can state taxpayers afford to fund two different school systems?