I have missed updating you, as my family and I took some time over the spring break to be together. My granddaughter visited me here in Milwaukee. I was proud to show her around the city. My son and I took in a Brewers' game. Glad to see our Brew Crew beat Houston on a Saturday night at the ballpark. I still love my Phillies, though the Brewers are my solid number two team!
Meanwhile, it's been a process of tying up the loose ends of our budget for next school year. We adjusted our projection for how large the state's proposed budget cuts are in terms of impact on MPS, from $74 million to $81.6 million. You can see why we had to go back to our departments for more reductions.
I have two budget items to share with you.
First, summer school will look different. Fewer locations will be offered for the elementary grades. We had to scale back the number of sites to save money, but we found a way to triple the value. That's because the sites for elementary summer school will be locations that also serve summer meals and programs run by MPS Recreation.
Second, we have closed the book on school closings, mergers and relocations for the year. This is it, as I have told our principals. We will make no further adjustments to the roster of schools for 2011-2012. The Board has approved closing seven schools and relocating six others. Additionally, a total of six schools are merging. Look here for a draft list of all the changes.
We are preparing a Companion Guide for Parents on our budget proposal. It should be ready in days. More on that later.
