Optimism is such a core impulse for Milwaukee School Superintendent Gregory Thornton that he began to tell School Board members at a meeting Thursday he was pleased to inform them of something – and then corrected himself to say he regretted to inform them.
What he regretted – and a statewide roster of public school officials would agree – is that the news coming out of Washington and Madison when it comes to education funding is filled with uncertainty, confusion, and, from their standpoint, ill tidings.
Thornton said the meeting of the board’s budget committee had been postponed a week in the hope there would be more clarity (and maybe better news) by the time the board sat down. In reality, he said, things were cloudier than before.
But the lack of clarity on what lies ahead only underscores how important signals from Madison and Washington are.
It isn’t news that the capitals of the nation and state are the places to turn to if you want to get handles on what is going on in local education. Twenty-five years ago or so, that wasn’t nearly so true, especially in a places such as Wisconsin, which was (and still says it is) a “local-control” state for schools. As education moved up the priority list, the influence of Washington and Madison increased.