Gov. Jim Doyle has requested that the Wisconsin state Legislature meet in a special session next week to discuss Milwaukee Public Schools.
According to a statement released Tuesday, the special session of the Legislature will meet Dec. 16. Doyle said he hopes lawmakers will pass Senate Bill 405 and Assembly Bill 534 during the session.
Senate Bill 405 gives the mayor of Milwaukee the power to appoint and fire the MPS superintendent. Presently, the School Board appoints the superintendent. William G. Andrekopoulos, the current superintendent of MPS, is set to step down at the end of the school year.
Under Assembly Bill 535, the state superintendent of schools would have the power to intervene if a school district falls drastically behind or is failing.
The special session of the state Legislature was called, according to supporters of the bills, as a response to MPS students' performance in the National Assessment of Education Progress. The assessment, also released Tuesday, is conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.
According to Doyle's statement, MPS fourth and eighth grade students were ""significantly below the national average and near the bottom for urban school districts.""
""I am calling a special session of the Legislature because we must act now to drive real change that improves students' performance, month after month and year after year,"" Doyle said. ""The children at Milwaukee Public Schools are counting on the adults around them to prepare them for success.""
Carrie Lynch, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, told the Wisconsin State Journal Tuesday that she does not expect it to pass by the governor's deadline.
The WSJ reported that Democratic lawmakers did not agree to call a special session of the Legislature before Doyle announced it. Lynch said Doyle might not have the votes he needs to pass the bills by next week.
