MILWAUKEE – Public school apologists in Milwaukee may have found a way to halt the sale of a vacant Milwaukee Public Schools building to a military-style private voucher school.

They are claiming the school, which would be operated by Right Step Inc., would not be “the right use for the building” – even though it was previously a school!

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Milwaukee Public Schools administrators and city officials have come under fire in recent years for refusing to sell vacant school buildings to popular private schools that participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.

MPS officials and their supporters are critical of the Parental Choice Program because it provides vouchers for students to leave public schools and enroll in private schools. When students leave, MPS loses their share of state money.

And a lot of MPS students have left, due to poor academics and security issues. The mass exodus of students has left the district with about two dozen vacant schools.

At least one MPS official admitted that the district was hesitant to sell one vacant building to a voucher school competitor, due to the potential loss of revenue.

That would be like “asking the Coca-Cola Company to turn over its facilities to Pepsi so Pepsi can expand and compete with the Coca-Cola Company,” former MPS school board president Michael Bonds said.

Last year the state reacted by passing a new law forcing MPS and the city (which actually owns the buildings) to sell vacant school buildings to competing private voucher schools.

A majority of state lawmakers believe that parents should have the option of choosing different schools for their kids, particularly if their public school district is failing.

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Last week the Milwaukee Common Council, which governs the city, grudgingly approved the sale of the former Centro Del Nino Head Start building at 500 E. Center St. to Right Step Inc. for $223,000.

Council members explained that they felt compelled to approve the sale due to the new state law.

Right Step, a military-style school, already operates one school in Milwaukee, serving some of the most troubled students in the area. It has a strong disciplinary record, unlike many MPS schools.

But now it seems there’s a catch in the process. Right Step needs a special use permit to obtain the building, because the neighborhood is zoned for business use, even though the Head Start program had been in the building since the 1990s.

The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals, which issues special use permits, suspended a hearing on the issue last week after the Milwaukee Department of City Development voiced its opinion that the Right Step school “does not meet the criteria for the special use permit,” the Journal Sentinel reported.

“Department of City Development officials declined Friday to elaborate on their opposition,” the newspaper reported.

The hearing is scheduled to reconvene on Sept. 8.

It’s quite possible that the DCD and Zoning Board of Appeals have no legitimate reason to hold up the special use permit, except for loyalty to MPS.

One hint is that City Alderwoman Milele Coggs, who sits on the Zoning Board of Appeals, recently expressed doubts about the new school, as well as the state law allowing it to buy the building.

At Thursday’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, Coggs chimed in again, saying “It’s just not the right use for the building,” according to the Journal Sentinel. Coggs, like the DCD officials, apparently did not offer specific reasons for her opposition.

The Journal Sentinel mentioned that the proposed school has “drawn opposition from nearby residents who see it as a poor fit for the neighborhood and public school advocates who view the new law as part of a broader Republican agenda to gut Milwaukee Public Schools.”

The last part of that sentence, referring to the general desire to keep students trapped in MPS schools with limited outside choices , may very well have more to do with the holdup than any legitimate zoning snag.

Those who are loyal to MPS don’t want another voucher school in the city, and may be grasping for legal reasons to keep Right Step away.