Some Milwaukee schools shine brightly as examples of success

It was almost exactly six years ago when Gus Ramirez gave me a tour of the new St. Augustine Prep school building on Milwaukee’s south side. It was the day before the first school day ever for Aug Prep, as it is often called.

Well-designed classrooms, ample space, a huge swimming pool with an accompanying diving pool, a gymnasium large enough for three full basketball courts — all was in readiness. Ramirez and his family had picked up the tab for just about all of it, to the tune of at least $50 million.

As we walked along a corridor, I said that it was a great facility. Ramirez stopped, fixed his eyes on me, and said: "That doesn’t matter unless there are great results."

Great results? What a concept.

For all that has happened on the Milwaukee area education landscape in the last 35 years, great results have been delivered too infrequently. Mediocrity — or worse — has continued unchanged when it comes to results in many schools. Reading and math skills continue to be arguably among the weakest in the nation for low-income and minority children overall in Milwaukee. We’re not doing so well on facilities either, as shown by the closing of Milwaukee Public Schools for two days in August because of heat.

Equitable chances for city kids compared to large numbers of suburban kids — how much has improved on that score? Steps to addresss funding needs and bold thinking about how to improve outcomes have been too rare.

But there are bright spots, more than will be listed here. It’s worth naming a few examples to spotlight positive things as a new school year begins.

Reagan High School among brightest lights on MPS scene

The MPS high school on the south side was launched about 20 years ago. With the success of many students and the established high quality of its International Baccalaureate program, it has become one of the brightest lights on the local school scene.

But with about 1,300 students in a former middle school, the school was overcrowded and unable to offer some services. Now, $10 million in federal COVID money and several million dollars in private philanthropy have led to construction that is well underway for improvements to Reagan. Reagan earned this opportunity to do more and do better. Results justifying growth? Indeed.

Notre Dame School of Milwaukee is growing

This Catholic kindergarten through eighth-grade school, part of the Milwaukee voucher program, started out small about 25 years ago, but grew to more than 500 students at two locations on the south side. This fall, it is adding a third location in the St. Florian’s building at 1215 S. 45th St. in West Milwaukee. That will allow more students to be served. The school has had high ratings on Wisconsin’s school reports cards in recent years. Growth? Yes. Results? Yes.

Cudahy schools commit to improving literacy

This south shore suburb has changed over the years. Enrollment has declined, and schools have been consolidated. The working class community, itself, has become much more diverse. When it comes to academic results, Cudahy is a good example of school district that has not been standing still. In the last several years, it revamped its literacy programs to emphasize “science of reading” approaches that are going to be introduced over the next several years to schools across Wisconsin under a new state law. Early indications in Cudahy have been promising and the commitment to improvement across the staff has been strong. Results? They’re serious about aiming higher, which makes them worth applause.

Aug Prep meets just about every goal

Look at results — past, present, and potentially future — and you have to regard Aug Prep as a big deal. The school has a conservative Christian culture and a structured, rigorous approach to academics and behavior. In six years, it has met pretty much every goal it has set.

It has grown quickly, increasing enrollment every year, with waiting lists of more who would like to enroll. It has gotten five-star report cards from the state Department of Public Instruction the last two years. Attendance is high. Retention from year to year of students and teachers is high. And the data on where its graduates are headed is good.

The school celebrated on Aug. 22 the opening of a $49 million second building, across the street from the first building. Enrollment between the two buildings will be over 1,800 this fall, making it the largest single-site school in Milwaukee. By several years from now, enrollment at the south side buildings is expected to be around 2,400.

And the future? The Ramirez family announced several weeks ago that they were buying the campus of the now-closed Cardinal Stritch University on the Fox Point-Glendale line. The goal is to open a north campus of Aug Prep by September 2025. Gus Ramirez envisions it growing over the next several years to 2,500 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Ramirez said he’s aiming for a more diverse student body, in terms of both race and income, than at the south campus, which is over 90% Hispanic. Close to all the south side students receive publicly funded vouchers to attend the school. On the north side, Ramirez said he wants that percentage to be lower, with students coming from as far as Ozaukee County, as well as from areas well west of I-43.

Even Aug Prep critics should recognize that the school is important, successful, and aiming to keep rising. (If I were involved in running a school, public or private, within a few miles of the Stritch location, I’d be wondering what Aug Prep could mean to future enrollment.)

It is important to note that Ramirez said he would not have undertaken the Stritch expansion without the large increases included in the new Wisconsin state budget for payments for each student receiving a school voucher or enrolling in a charter school. Those increases contrast to the state budget’s decidedly smaller increases in per student funding of public schools.

Money isn’t everything in creating a vibrant school. But it sure matters a lot. Public schools generally still receive more in public funding per student than private or charter schools. But the new funding amounts change the dynamics, making it easier for private and charter schools to think bigger than before (not to mention to survive). And for public schools, especially those serving students from low income homes, financial stresses will make it harder to be bold.

What will this mean for seeing more schools become known for strong results? That’s a really important question.

But, as has been shown all across the nation, big budgets don’t always mean big success. There are both tangibles and intangibles in play when it comes to going after good results in education.

Aug Prep has had the advantage of the backing of people with deep pockets. But I’ve followed the school pretty closely since before it opened. There’s more at play at the school than just money. Words like "competence," "commitment" and "boldness" come to mind. The willingness to make changes in pursuit of better outcomes. Dedication to building a school culture that wraps itself around students and parents.

Whether people are supporters or critics of Aug Prep (there are certainly both), people involved in education can learn from what has made the school such a fast-rising success. And a good starting point would be understanding what was behind the look in Gus Ramirez’ eyes when he talked about getting good results.

Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee schools have shining examples of what can go right