MPS Student Enrollment Will Decline, Budget Will Grow (Surprise!)

Of course no one is surprised by this. Milwaukee Public Schools, one of the worst and most wasteful school districts in the United States will have a decline in enrollment, but has proposed an increased budget. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that enrollment will decline next school year by 4.7%.

Yet the budget for MPS is growing slightly. The paper reports that as a “flat” budget compared to the prior year, but the working is clear that it is an increase.

Why is the budget growing when the enrollment is decreasing by almost 5%? The enrollment in MPS has been steadily declining… so much that the enrollment figures are expected to be 20% lower than they were just 10 years ago. Yet year after year, the district’s budget just grows and grows.

What private sector business would stay afloat if it kept losing customers in large numbers, but continued to increase spending? None. Government entities live in a fantasy world because they know they have the ability to dip into the pockets of taxpayers at will. There is absolutely no incentive for MPS to control costs, and to date, no one has held the district accountable for its wasteful spending.

Related posts:

1. Milwaukee Public Schools enrollment projected to drop
2. No Surprise: MPS is Cutting Teachers Because of Out-Of-Control Employee Costs
3. Milwaukee Public Schools Budget Time: Fun to Be Had By All
4. MPS board members don’t understand basic business principles
5. Proposed Budget Fix to Help Governor Jim Doyle