How about a commission of MPS parents?

The Journal Sentinel editorial board wants Governor Jim Doyle and Mayor Tom Barrett--or maybe just their representatives or maybe just anyone--at a sit-down to discuss the fate of the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Perhaps what's needed is a commission of high-profile leaders, including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Gov. Jim Doyle or their representatives, to determine the best alternative and with the clout to put that alternative into place. Stakeholders should be involved, but no one should be allowed to become impediments to real reform. The time has long passed for infighting and political squabbles.

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Taxpayers are going to be understandably reluctant to send more money to MPS, especially when so few of them have any confidence that the district can educate children adequately. Yes, there are shining examples of success, but they are still too few to make a real difference to most families in the district.

Jay Bullock is indispensable on the challenges facing MPS because of Milwaukee’s poverty and joblessness, facts not often bandied about when we hear from the city's political, business, and chattering classes on challenges facing MPS. I'm guessing a poll of taxpayers in the city would probably confirm what the news media constantly tells us: MPS is awful.

But one should pause at the claim that so few taxpayers have any "confidence that the district can educate children adequately.”

Is it true that so few of us have any confidence? Two of the little Pundits have been in MPS schools for years, and as we’ve pointed out in the past, they are thriving. One of the pair attends a school that struggles with school-wide test scores, but the education that he is getting is certainly more than just "adequate." And, in any event, I'm not particulary interested in the school's test scores--I'm interested in his test scores, and those are very good, thank you.

And I don't think it's just us. There are nearly 100,000 students in MPS. Is it correct that a majority of them are getting an education that is not even “adequate”? We’ve attended MPS events for many years now, and I’ve often been struck by how positive parents are about the education children are getting, and the confidence parents have in the teachers and staff.

MPS certainly has struggles, and I’m in favor of solutions that help the district and the city get at the problems. But how much of the attitude of the Journal Sentinel editorial board, other pundits, and the business community is based on a real assessment of what parents think about the education their children are getting and how much is just a conditioned response to years of negative headlines?