Gov. Jim Doyle met with lawmakers and community leaders at the Capitol Monday to discuss education reform and restructuring the Milwaukee Public School system.
Doyle and some members of the state Legislature are pushing for urgent reform, including a controversial mayoral-takeover provision, supporters say are necessary to remain competitive for federal Race to the Top dollars.
At the news conference, Doyle said he supported a top-down approach and said he thinks creating ""clear lines of responsibility and authority"" through mayoral - takeover is the type of change MPS needs.
""We're being handed an opportunity that may not ever come along again to do something really dramatic to help improve all of the schools in the state of Wisconsin through Race to the Top … It would be a tragedy if usual kinds of political games get played and we don't take advantage of this opportunity,"" he said.
Charlie Rose, general council for the U.S. Department of Education, joined Doyle to discuss his experience as a collective bargainer in the restructuring of the Chicago Public Schools. He cited his work on the Chicago Reform Act of 1995 and said the ""centerpiece"" of the act included mayoral takeover.
Opponents of Doyle's plan, including state Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, and state Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, said they believe a collaborative partnership between the school board and the city is more democratic.
Kevin Benish, spokesperson for Grigsby, called Doyle's plan ""hostile"" and ""undemocratic.""
""Rep. Grigsby sees today as yet another attempt by the governor to try to garner support for this hostile takeover of MPS. Just as we have seen in previous attempts, I don't think there's the support that they are claiming there is,"" he said.
Benish said the institution of mayoral takeover in other cities has been proven unsuccessful, citing Chicago, New York and Detroit.
""We have taken a close look and seen not only results that are not promising but evidence that they can do harm. We think that collaboration provides a much better framework,"" he said.
—Ryan Hebel contributed to this report.
