DANIEL BICE and MEG JONES

Madison State Superintendent of Public Instruction John T. Benson voiced strong opposition Monday to a proposal that would allow the Milwaukee School Board to hire a private firm to run its school system.

Gov. Tommy G. Thompson's 1995-'97 budget plan would permit Milwaukee school officials to contract with private groups to run one or more public schools.

MPS also could pay private schools to teach city students.

Thompson has said he put these and other proposals in the budget at the request of MPS Superintendent Howard L. Fuller.

But Benson, speaking to members of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, said Milwaukee school officials need to focus first on doing what they can to help poor, preschool children and high school students not planning to attend college.

Until those changes occur, he said, "We're not going to solve the problems of the children (and) the young people of Milwaukee by turning them over to a for- profit corporation from Mississippi."

Benson said Thompson's budget requires a "giant leap of faith" in deregulation and increased privatization.

Yet, he said he is aware of only one private company that has any experience running a private school system. Educational Alternatives currently heads schools in Baltimore.

Benson said he has not been impressed with the results there.

"Everything I've read about that while I don't want to be too biased about it doesn't demonstrate to me that there is any value to it whatsoever," he said.

"As a matter of fact, I think it's probably more negative than it is helpful in terms of academic achievement."

Fuller told a reporter Monday in Milwaukee that elected school boards should be able to determine whether they want to have a public / private partnership.

"He (Benson) is wrong on these issues. What it does is rather than put him in a position where he can talk about significant change, it puts him in a position of being for the status quo. And in Milwaukee the status quo is not good enough," Fuller said.

The Milwaukee superintendent last year backed the for-profit education company, Edison Project, which was considering operating an elementary school in Milwaukee.

Edison decided last August not to pursue negotiations with MPS, citing union opposition and rigid state charter school laws.

Fuller has vowed to continue pushing for changes in state laws that would make it easier for public and private charter schools to operate without being bound to existing union contracts.

"What they're trying to do is scare everybody and say that I'm trying to get rid of everyone's jobs," Fuller said, adding that Benson is "feeding into that hysteria and demagoguery."

He added that he has "never asked for charter schools as a way of bringing in Edison or anything else. John Benson knows that."

Benson held out his own "urban initiative" plan as a better way to improve conditions in Milwaukee.

He also said the state's charter school program, which eases state regulations in certain school districts, has increased flexibility in the areas of staffing and curriculum.

During his hourlong appearance before the Legislature's budget-writing committee, Benson repeated his opposition to Thompson's plan to include religious schools in the Milwaukee school Choice program.

He said he and his agency have been incorrectly characterized as supporters of the status quo.

"I am a change agent," Benson said.

Copyright 1995
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