It started meeting in 1994 with 34 members including Republican legislators. The Task Force came up with the idea. They were impressed by the Tennessee STAR program and decided that better quality interaction with teachers would help on several school problems, such as violence. SAGE will grow to include third grade. Republicans and businesspeople on the Task Force became convinced SAGE was worth doing, and got the Republican-controlled Legislature to fund it despite MPS opposition.
SAGE even has evaluation built into the legislation.
So far most of the public has seen only a foot or tail of the SAGE program, but this new Godzilla will come into full view over the next year. We have earned the right to represent them. Dr. Call 871-1000 for information. While most Milwaukee Public School Board directors trekked to Madison earlier this month to convince state legislators that the locally elected board should maintain its authority over MPS, Director John Gardner was working the phone from Milwaukee, pushing a very different agenda. Thompson had originally proposed that the state replace the MPS board with an appointed five-member commission if MPS failed to meet any one of four performance standards.