If you’re new here, I should tell you that I’m a fan of writing about Milwaukee Public Schools. Not a fan of MPS, but a fan of writing about it. There’s just so much material to work with!

We’ve got one of the worst school districts in the nation, hands down.  The district spends over $14,000 per child per school year, but the children still can’t read, add, or subtract. (And no, the poor performance isn’t due to the fact that MPS is an “urban” district. Nor is it a result of “not having enough money.”)

This isn’t the first time (and won’t be the last time) that a contribution to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff’s campaign fund is followed by questionable activity. The latest allegations of impropriety involve  a computer consulting company called DigitalBridge.

On September 29, 2008, AG Shurtleff wrote a letter on his office’s letterhead to the National Association of Attorneys General, endorsing the services of DigitalBridge and providing the company’s contact information. This doesn’t sound like a big deal unless you consider that on September 18, 2008, DigitalBridge made a $10,000 contribution to Shurtleff’s campaign.

It’s amazing what several hundred thousand a million dollars will buy you these days. Get ready for an opinion from McKinsey & Co. that says Milwaukee Public Schools suck. (And I’ve been telling you that for free!)

It has long been a mystery how a school system as bad as Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) can spend over $14,000 per year per child.On a daily basis, the school district is spending $3,287,671.23 a day, 365 days a year.

At that rate of spending, you’d think they would have something to show for it. Instead, 61% of 10th graders students can’t read and 71% can’t do math. Their two excuses have been not enough money (thoroughly debunked) and bad home lives of children (also debunked based on results in other urban school districts).

The Government Accountability Spending Project (GASP) has posted a searchable database of Milwaukee Public Schools spending for 2006, 2007, and 2008 through July. It’s amazing what our tax dollars are funding in this massive failure of a school district. Citizens for a Responsible Government (CRG) reports that the database holds over 432,000 invoices paid by MPS, totaling over $2.2 billion in spending.

Wasteful spending has long been the norm in MPS, with teachers getting an average of $90,000 to $100,000 in total compensation for a 9-month work commitment. The school board even wastes our tax dollars personally.

Patrick Dorwin at Badger Blogger has been publishing some lovely bits of data from the database, including:

• $79,469 to Hyatt Regency Hotels
• $71,292 to Hilton Hotels
• $28,223 to Westin Hotels, which includes one 5 day stay in Times Square by Kathelyne Dye at a cost of $4,599.48
• $80,530 to Zinger Tours of Washington DC to tour black colleges
• $314,469 to U.S. Cellular
• $28,000 to AT&T Mobility
• $22,503 to Nextel Communications
• $5,670 to Sprint
• $75,552 to NextNet Wireless
• $9,408 to Bartolotta Catering Co.
• $93,335.93 to American Serb Memorial Hall for 33 events
• Media buys of $680,000 including:
  • WISN-TV: $276,765
  • WITI-TV: $241,583
  • WMLW-TV: $10,574
  • WTMJ-TV: $82,326
  • JOURNAL SENTINEL INC: $69,663
• $19,859,853.96 on consultants (I’m wondering if they might need a consultant on fraud???)
• $5,160 paid by Milwaukee Academy of Aviation, Science and Technology to Beverly Hills Limousine Service
• $1,014,436 for consulting services from the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents
• $27,144 for iPods, categorized under “Nutritional Categorical.” Who knew iPods were nutritious?

Channel 4′s I-Team did a report on the evening news about this wasteful spending. And where’s the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on this issue? Conspicuously absent. The newspaper is quick to cry that MPS needs more money and the state should change its funding formula, but when it comes to the issue of wasteful spending as exposed with this database, the only article to be found is an online opinion piece by Patrick McIlheran.

Why should we be sad about budget cuts at MPS when this type of wasteful spending is exposed?

Whether from dishonesty, incompetence, or a bit of both, the big $700 billion “bailout bill” that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson begged lawmakers to approve is falling apart. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Michelle Malkin writes:

It’s been widely reported that Neel Kashkari, Goldman Sachs alum and head of the $700 billion bailout, has said he wants transparency in administering the whole process. He is quoted as saying:

“Consistent with Congress’ intent, we are committed to transparency and oversight in all aspects of the program and have already taken several important steps in this area…”

Yet I have to wonder how transparent he really wants things to be when large contracts related to oversight and administration are being released to the public with redacted information. How is that transparent, if we can’t even see who is involved with overseeing the bailout and what they’re being paid?

Tonight the Milwaukee Public Schools board is going to vote in favor of increasing city property taxes 14.6% for the school portion. That is the largest portion of the property tax bill, so overall taxpayers will see a sharp increase in their bills.

I know you’re not surprised anymore. I’m not surprised. Milwaukee Public Schools officials spent district money to go to a conference in Philadelphia, and the employees didn’t even attend the conference.

The problem is that when you’re wasting thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to do it, someone needs to be held accountable. I’m not surprised at this. MPS teachers don’t even go to the annual “convention” that they’re supposed to attend. A few peons show up and fraudulently sign in for others who don’t go. So it’s clear that cheating in regards to conferences/seminars is a systemic problem in MPS.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran this story a few days ago, and it’s just so indicative of the mismanagement of the district from a financial standpoint. No one in the private sector would get away with wasting billions of dollars and not be held accountable. Yet the district will again spend almost $1.2 billion or almost $14,000 per child. And not be held accountable.

Here’s the latest demonstration of ineptitude. Back in 2000, someone had a reasonable idea: Let’s get children back into neighborhood schools instead of busing them all over the city. We’ll save money because of reduced transportation, and we’ll have students in schools in their own neighborhoods… investing families in the neighborhoods and hopefully improving the city.

The cost of the Neighborhood Schools Initiative? $102 million. Add the interest on the debt used to pay for the program, and it will cost $175 million.

How much does it cost to get Mark Shurtleff, Utah’s Attorney General, to lie for you? Apparently only $5,000. What a bargain!

Today Sam Antar has an enlightening piece on his blog, entitled “Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne Pays Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to Defame a Blogger.” It details a situation in which a $5,000 Overstock.com campaign contribution to Shurtleff was followed immediately by public lies by Shurtleff. And there’s plenty of evidence to support the claim that Shurtleff blatantly lied.