Gov. Jim Doyle announced Thursday that Wisconsin will not receive first-round federal Race to the Top funding for public schools.
Wisconsin could have received $254 million through the U.S. Department of Education's grant program, according to a release from Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Race to the Top aims to finance educational reform especially in the nation's lowest-performing schools.
This is specifically pertinent in the Milwaukee school district, which consistently ranks among the worst in the country, according to a statement.
Adam Collins, a spokesperson for Gov. Doyle, said that, though the state submitted a reform plan, it did not demonstrate the ability to execute it in Milwaukee.
""If you look at the structure of Milwaukee public schools and the track record of Milwaukee public schools, it's very hard to make a case that real reform and those real improvements in education are possible without a change,"" Collins said.
Collins said Barrett and other officials have called for extensive restructuring of and leadership changes in Milwaukee's schools, but the district and the state Legislature have not moved the efforts forward.
""The train is leaving the station,"" Doyle said in a statement. ""But because the Milwaukee School Board continues to cling to the status quo—and because the state Legislature has so far failed to make real reforms—Wisconsin is not on that train.""
Collins said one proposed reform is for the mayor to appoint the school superintendent to establish ""clear accountable leadership"" in the district. The state Legislature has passed several laws on education in the last year.
Race to the Top will accept a second round of applications in June. Collins said Wisconsin would need a clear reform agenda in Milwaukee to have a second chance at funding.
Sixteen states from the original 40 applicants are now finalists.
