In this report, we set the stage for discussion of service sharing in Milwaukee County's suburban school districts. Our specific focus is the dollars those districts are spending on out-of-classroom services, including administrative, "back office" functions (e.g. payroll, accounting, information technology); administration of ongoing operations and school buildings; non-instructional pupil services, such as social work and guidance; and instructional staff services, such as curriculum development and staff training.
The report collects and synthesizes data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to show the amount of money being spent by each district on support services, and how each district compares to peers from inside and outside Milwaukee County. After considering this picture, we briefly explore the types of non-instructional service sharing already occurring in Milwaukee County's suburban districts, and offer insights into where additional exploration may be merited.
The number of students using taxpayer-funded vouchers for private school tuition increased 12% in the current school year, representing the largest increase since 2006 and reversing last year’s enrollment decline. The 2011-13 Wisconsin state budget amended the school choice program to allow Milwaukee students participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) to attend any private school in the state, and also created the Parental Private School Choice Program (PPSCP) in Racine.
In June 2010, the Wisconsin Legislature approved YoungStar, a new quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for the state’s nearly 8,500 regulated child care providers. The new system was designed to improve child care in Wisconsin by rating providers based on several measures of quality, offering supportive services and financial incentives to assist providers in making quality improvements, and sharing provider ratings with parents so they could make better-informed child care decisions. By establishing a framework for regular evaluation and observation, and by eliminating public subsidies for providers that failed to meet minimum health and safety standards, YoungStar also was seen as an important means of reducing fraud within the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy system.
In each of the past 15 years, the Public Policy Forum has surveyed nonprofit leaders in southeast Wisconsin to gain insight into the financial health of their organizations and their success in generating support from philanthropic and government entities in Greater Milwaukee. The Forum's effort to collect, synthesize and publish this information reflects the critical role played by nonprofit organizations in delivering a wide variety of services to southeast Wisconsin residents in areas like health, social services and the arts.
In June 2010, Wisconsin’s Joint Committee on Finance approved YoungStar, a new quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for the state’s nearly 8,500 child care providers. YoungStar supporters believe the new system will improve the overall quality of childcare in Wisconsin by motivating and supporting providers to make quality improvements and by providing parents with the information they need to choose high-quality child care options. In this Research Brief, we examine several issues and challenges that have arisen in other states or jurisdictions with QRIS policies, how those entities have tackled those challenges, and the lessons their experiences might yield for Wisconsin.
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