Latest news with #GreaterMilwaukeeFoundation
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Local organizations donate $500K to support goals of new Milwaukee Public Schools leadership
Milwaukee Public Schools will receive over $500,000 from local organizations intending to support initiatives of the new superintendent, Brenda Cassellius. About two months into the job, Cassellius has announced plans to shrink the MPS central office and divert more staff to teaching jobs amid serious understaffing and criticism of academic outcomes. She's also contended with public pressure to clean up dangerous lead paint hazards and fix financial problems that drove the resignation of her predecessor, among other issues. Donations to support Cassellius' efforts are from several organizations: Herb Kohl Philanthropies and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, according to a news release, along with Bader Philanthropies, Baird, Milwaukee Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Northwestern Mutual, Rockwell Automation, We Energies and Weyco. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation will oversee the funds, the release said. The funding initiative, called the Superintendent Leader Impact Fund, was announced May 12 during an event of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. 'Having met and engaged in numerous conversations with Dr. Cassellius, it is clear that she is bringing the appropriate sense of urgency and action that we believe is needed within MPS at this critical time for the school district. As a result, we want to assist her in meeting the moment as a community,' Joel Brennan, Greater Milwaukee Committee president, said in a statement. The GMC's membership list includes business executives, college presidents and other community players. In a November question-and-answer session, Brennan listed several issues facing the district: declining enrollment, poor academic outcomes, problems with facilities, and community distrust driven by financial mismanagement, among other things. At the time, he said 2025 would present an opportunity "to determine the productive role that each of us can play as collaborative partners, or individually, to disrupt the unacceptable status quo related to education in our community." Few concrete details have been released on Cassellius' plans for the money, or how exactly it will be used. According to information provided May 12, priorities for funding include: Communications and public trust rebuilding Change management and organizational effectiveness and efficiency Leadership training and professional development, and District culture and employee engagement Cassellius also released a statement Monday. 'I am incredibly grateful for the support from the Milwaukee business and philanthropic community,' she said. 'Since arriving at MPS in March, I have witnessed the opportunities that exist and the real challenges we face here. With the resources to build a strong foundation for our next chapter, we will be able to make important progress for students and families. This moment requires us to be intentional, bold, and urgent, all of which are not possible without the partnership and engagement of this powerful community.' This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Cleo Krejci covers K-12 education and workforce development as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@ or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information about Report for America, visit This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Over $500K donated to Milwaukee Public Schools in support of new leader
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Child care is in crisis. High costs hurt parents and providers.
Early childhood education is a game-changer. It's a springboard to lifelong success for kids. It's a necessity for many parents to participate in the workforce and a lifeline to businesses who depend on a robust talent pool. However, despite its well-documented benefits for families, employers and the economy, child care is in crisis. With costs rising, availability shrinking and state support limited, the child care market in Wisconsin's urban, suburban and rural areas alike is unable to meet the demand, leaving communities in dire circumstances. Our children and our state's future deserve solutions that deliver on the promise offered by access to affordable, high-quality early education. Here are three things we could do in the Badger State to turn the tide: Identify new sources of funding to help stabilize early childhood education providers and prevent devastating closures. Stabilizing this essential industry requires a consistent source of financial resources. Securing new sources of funding would minimize provider closures, ensuring families can remain in the workforce, keeping the state's communities and economy growing. Supply is not meeting demand. Razor-thin margins and severe staffing shortages have significantly reduced the availability of care. More than 50% of the state and 70% of rural areas have just one licensed child care slot for every three children under age 5. More than 34,000 infants and toddlers in the state lack access to safe, regulated care, and waitlists in rural Wisconsin for families who need care exceed 25,500 spots. Circumstances will not improve on their own. Recently, 663 Milwaukee child care providers surveyed by Milwaukee Succeeds, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation's strategic education initiative, indicated the vast majority of pandemic relief funds they received have been used for basic operating costs like rent, food, utilities and supplies. Inflation is pressuring budgets even further, and at least 15% of providers surveyed said they expect to close when emergency funding expires in June. As we speak, other states are pursuing innovative options for getting more public and private funding into the sector. Retaining a dated, dysfunctional model for funding child care carries a high risk for harming Wisconsin children, families and employers. Opinion: Changes to Social Security would cost average Wisconsin resident $7,000 a year Strengthen Wisconsin Shares subsidies for lower income, working families so more households can afford care. Wisconsin Shares is a worthwhile program with the potential to have much greater impact if it covered more child care slots, reduced co-payments for families, increased eligibility to reach more families and simplified the application process. Opinion: Musk, billionaires took over Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The joke is on us. The expense of child care puts it out of reach for too many who need it. Families with one infant, for example, pay $11,900 per year on average at a child care center. And programs designed to help those with lower incomes aren't helping enough. Families in Wisconsin pay the highest co-payments on child care subsidies in the country – up to 17% of their household income for a family of three. You'll find co-pays of 5% and 5.7% in Minnesota and Michigan respectively. Challenges accessing Wisconsin Shares also leads to underutilization. Only 18 percent of eligible children are enrolled in the subsidy program. We need to expand the access, grow the resources, and then better connect people to them. Advance policies that increase compensation for early educators to reduce high rates of staff turnover. The staggering rates of turnover experienced in the child care sector could be mitigated if educators received dignified, livable pay commensurate with their training and experience. Even though early education teachers are entrusted to nurture our youngest learners during critical stages of development, lack of investment in the sector has depressed their wages to poverty levels. At a time when the cost of living is rising rapidly, early educators are earning an average of $12.99 per hour, predictably leading to low recruitment and retention rates. Wisconsin providers report they are under capacity by 33,000 children – meaning low staffing levels caused classrooms closures, reducing the number of children served compared to the number they could have otherwise served. Simply put, a living wage leads to more consistent staffing, which in turn means greater access to care for families. Early childhood education's challenges all point to a flawed business model where parents can't afford care, providers can't afford staff and rising operational costs, and staff can't afford to stay in the profession. Meanwhile, Wisconsin businesses suffer as current and potential employees opt out of the workforce in the absence of quality child care. This is a systems issue, so systems solutions are needed. And while one person cannot enact such change on their own, our voices are powerful together. Lawmakers in Madison are currently debating the state budget, and your opportunity to be heard is now. We encourage you to contact your state representatives and senators to educate them on the importance of early childhood education for Wisconsin's children and families, our economy and our future. Let them know that these three things could make all the difference. ➤Want to state legislator? Here's where you can find your representatives. Gregory M. Wesley, JD, is president and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. JoAnne Anton is president and CEO of Herb Kohl Philanthropies. Vincent Lyles is the executive director of Milwaukee Succeeds. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin daycare is expensive and scarce. We must act now | Opinion
