MPS board delays decision on whether to end leases with Carmen charter schools

The leaders of a prominent Milwaukee charter school network will have to wait another month to find out whether they will lose two of the south side buildings where they operate high schools.

A committee of the Milwaukee School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to kick the decision back to its next meeting, on June 25, so board members have time to gather more information about the potential impact of ending leases with the Carmen Schools of Science and Technology's South and Southeast campuses.

The proposal, from board member Missy Zombor, would end the leases at the end of the 2025-26 school year to make room for the crowded and growing district-run schools that operate in different rooms of the same buildings: Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA) and Pulaski High School.

The board room was packed Tuesday night with about 80 people speaking for and against the plan for three hours. The audience was starkly divided between one crowd wearing Carmen shirts and another crowd waving signs that said, "Give ALBA and Pulaski room to grow."

Carmen staff and families said they don't want to be forced out of the buildings and don't know where they could go. ALBA and Pulaski staff said they need room to grow their popular bilingual programs. Pulaski administrators said they're building the state's only bilingual International Baccalaureate diploma program.

After Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent Keith Posley recommended the committee wait until June to make a decision with more information, speakers on both sides urged board members not to wait.

"Our families and students showed up tonight looking for an answer because there's a lot of uncertainty," Kathy Hamel, a member of Carmen's board of directors, said after the meeting.

Several MPS board members said Tuesday that they needed more information, including the potential financial consequences for the district. Zombor agreed to hold the proposal for a month so board members could "make an informed decision."

More: Carmen charter schools won’t leave Milwaukee Public Schools buildings without a fight

Questions surround possible financial impact of Carmen's departure

Posley said the district had received a "large number of inquiries" about Zombor's proposal and recommended holding off on a vote until administrators could review more data. He didn't say what data he wanted to review.

Before Tuesday's meeting, Carmen leaders sent a memo to MPS administrators and board members warning that the district could lose funding if board members decide to end the leases.

Part of the financial impact is clear: MPS would lose lease revenue for the two buildings that house Carmen's South and Southeast campuses. Carmen paid MPS about $776,000 for those campuses this school year. MPS could regain lease revenue if the Carmen schools move to a different MPS building.

Another part of the financial impact is murkier. As an independently run charter school network, Carmen needs to have a contract with MPS, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee or the city of Milwaukee to receive public funds. Carmen's South and Southeast campuses are contracted through MPS. Through that contract, Carmen's funding gets routed through MPS, and some of it stays with the district.

If MPS kicks the two Carmen campuses out of its buildings, the network could choose to cut ties with MPS altogether. Two of its other campuses are already chartered by UW-Milwaukee.

It's hard to measure the financial impact of such a decision. MPS hasn't granted an interview request this week about related revenues and expenses.

When the Wisconsin Policy Forum analyzed charter payments in 2018, it found that MPS collected about $10,572 per Carmen student in core state and local funds, and paid Carmen about $8,311 per student, keeping about $2,261. With the funding it kept, MPS paid for districtwide services. It was difficult to determine whether that funding matched the value of districtwide services that Carmen might have benefited from, the Forum found.

Since the 2018 report, funding levels have changed in a couple ways.

This school year, MPS collected about $13,366 per student in core state and local funds, according to the Forum. Under Carmen's charter contract, MPS gives Carmen a payment that matches what state lawmakers set as a payment amount for independent charter schools, after keeping a 1% administrative fee, working out to about $11,271 per student this school year. That leaves a net gain of about $2,095 per student this school year for MPS; it's unclear how much of the amount might be spent on services that benefit Carmen.

"We do think MPS should should look at the financial implications of this decision because they are pretty large for the district," Hamel said.

On the other hand, board members on Monday also received a report by Ben Ward, former executive director of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, which argues that MPS could stand to gain more funding than it might lose, if its own schools are given room to take in more students. If MPS is able to enroll more students who otherwise might have gone to nondistrict schools, it stands to gain over $13,000 per student.

"For MPS, the financial impact of Pulaski and ALBA growing without the hindrance of the co-locations is significantly more valuable than the expected return on continuing the co-locations," Ward wrote.

Board members on Tuesday said they need more time to understand the potential consequences.

Alternative locations for Carmen include vacant north side schools

Board members did get an answer to another question Tuesday.

Zombor asked Posley whether the district has any open buildings that could house the Carmen schools. As part of her plan, administrators would be tasked with helping Carmen find another MPS building where they could possibly move its students.

Posley said there are two options, both on the north side. One is the former McNair school, 4950 N. 24 St., which Milwaukee Excellence is vacating. The other is the former Happy Hill school, 7171 W. Brown Deer Road, which Milwaukee Excellence left last year.

Carmen leaders have been adamant about staying close to their current locations, as most of their students live within 2 miles of the South and Southeast campuses. They're exploring another site a few blocks away from their Southeast campus: a medical office property owned by Wheaton Franciscan at 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave.

What's next?

Zombor's proposal is expected to be considered at the next meeting of the school board's accountability, finance and personnel ccommittee, 5:30 p.m. June 25.

The resolution would also need to be approved by the full board at a later meeting. The full board is scheduled to meet June 27.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MPS board delays decision on whether to end leases with Carmen charter schools