Leaders of a major Milwaukee charter school network will ask a city board this week to allow them to build a $55 million school on the south side — though they say they’re not sure yet who will attend it.
The proposal, which leaders say started as a dream project for the Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, is now also a fallback plan for two of the network’s campuses that could be booted from their current homes in buildings owned by Milwaukee Public Schools.
Carmen leaders said they don’t want to move their campuses out of the MPS buildings. Ivan Gamboa, chair of Carmen’s board of directors, said ideally the network would move its South Middle School to the new building and would enroll additional high school students.
But if Milwaukee School Board members approve a resolution by board member Missy Zombor to non-renew the leases for Carmen’s South and Southeast High Schools at the end of the 2025-26 school year, Carmen leaders plan to move those students into its proposed new building.
Zombor, who presented the idea in April, said it’s important for the Carmen campuses to find new locations in order to make space for the the crowded and growing district-run schools that operate in different rooms of the same buildings: Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA) and Pulaski High School. Both buildings are already over capacity.
Brenda Martínez, the lead teacher at ALBA, said the school has grown because there’s a high demand for the bilingual education ALBA offers from kindergarten through eighth grade. If she can expand the school, which carries a waitlist, Martínez said the school would gradually add a class to each grade level.
Pulaski, which also has a waitlist, is also short on space, staff said. The school has grown since adding an International Baccalaureate program. Administrators said they’re working on building the state’s only bilingual International Baccalaureate diploma program.
School board members were scheduled to discuss the resolution Tuesday, but Zombor said she plans to postpone the discussion until October. She said that will provide more time to understand the feasibility of Carmen’s plans for a new building, and for MPS administrators to gather more information to answer questions that board members have about the potential consequences of ending the leases.
The Milwaukee School Board and MPS administrators also have other pressing matters on their plate, including managing an accounting crisis and finding a new superintendent.
Gamboa said he has asked board members to make a decision at the meeting Tuesday to give Carmen leaders time to make plans if they will need to leave the MPS buildings in 2026.
Carmen makes plans for new building, asks for extension on leases
Carmen leaders are seeking a special-use permit from the city in order to build a new school on a property they would purchase from Wheaton Franciscan.
At 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave., the property is a few blocks from Carmen’s Southeast campus and about 2.5 miles from the South campus. Carmen leaders said they had been interested in that property before Zombor’s resolution, as a location for other students.
Carmen’s application with the city notes that the school would serve up to 1,100 students in grades 6-12.
If Carmen does build on the site, Gamboa said the project would take at least two or three years to complete, making it unclear whether it could be ready by 2026.
“Typically it takes longer than that but we would work to meet any deadlines, but it would be very tight,” Gamboa said. “There’s a small percentage (chance) that we could, but it remains to be seen.”
If board members do not plan to renew Carmen’s leases long-term, Gamboa said he has asked board members to extend the current leases for one more year, through the 2026-27 school year.
Board member Marcela “Xela” Garcia, who represents a region that includes the Carmen South campus, said she supports the idea of moving the Carmen schools out of the MPS buildings but said she would support a one-year extension.
“I think our priority should not be to destabilize a school community; if anything, our job is to provide as much support specifically through transition periods,” Garcia said. “I just don’t think it’s in our benefit to ostracize a group that has been part of our school portfolio.”
Henry Leonard, who represents the board district that includes the Carmen Southeast campus, said he also believes the schools should be separated but was considering supporting a one-year lease extension if it’s not possible for Carmen to complete its new building in time.
“I don’t want any parents to be worried about not having a place to go to,” Leonard said.
Zombor said she was open to discussing the idea of an extension but also said there is an urgency to provide more space for ALBA and Pulaski.
“My main concern still is that ALBA and Pulaski are turning away students,” Zombor said. She said she’s also concerned about students already enrolled at those schools who don’t have the space they need, especially for special education services, because of the overcrowding.
Questions remain about potential financial impacts of Carmen’s departure from MPS
Several MPS board members have said they need more information, including the potential financial consequences for the district.
If the school board decides to end leases with Carmen, the district would lose lease revenue, which was about $776,000 for the two campuses this school year.
Separately from the leases, the Carmen South and Southeast campuses are authorized as charter schools under contracts with MPS. Through those contracts, Carmen’s state funding gets routed through MPS, and some of it stays with the district.
If MPS kicks the two Carmen campuses out of its buildings, Gamboa said the network would “lean heavily” toward cutting ties with MPS as its authorizer. Carmen could seek authorization instead from the the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which already authorizes two different Carmen schools.
“Without providing facilities, it makes it very hard to continue the partnership,” Gamboa said.
It’s hard to measure the financial impact of such a decision. A 2018 Wisconsin Policy Forum analysis found MPS collected about $10,572 per Carmen student in core state and local funds, and paid Carmen about $8,311 per student. With the $2,261 it kept per student, MPS paid for district-wide services. It was difficult to tell if the funding matched the value of services that Carmen might have benefited from, the Forum found.
This school year, MPS collected about $13,366 per student in core state and local funds, according to the Forum. Under Carmen’s charter contract, MPS gives Carmen a payment that matches what state lawmakers set as a payment amount for independent charter schools, after keeping a 1% administrative fee, working out to about $11,271 per student this school year. That leaves about $2,095 per student earmarked for district-wide services.
As a counterpoint, former Milwaukee Teachers Education Association executive director Ben Ward sent school board members a report that argued MPS could also gain funding if the Carmen schools move out. If the MPS-run schools are able to enroll more students who otherwise might have gone to non-district schools, it stands to gain over $13,000 per student.
What’s next?
At a Tuesday meeting of the school board’s Committee on Accountability, Finance and Personnel, Zombor plans to postpone discussion about Carmen’s leases until October. The committee is scheduled to meet Oct. 22.
The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled on Thursday to consider Carmen’s application for a special-use permit to build its proposed school at 2005 W. Oklahoma Ave.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Carmen plans new Milwaukee charter school, fights to keep MPS leases
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