It also reflects changing social and educational realities for families in the city, such as the need for child care and parental apprehension about problems in massive Milwaukee middle schools. The plan marks a clear shift back to the neighborhood school as the highlighted choice for where a student should enroll. But creators of the plan say their central goal was to give every parent almost a guarantee that a school in the neighborhood would have seats for their children and that those schools would be attractive choices. In doing that, officials are aiming to reduce busing substantially. Critics of the plan fear the return to a neighborhood emphasis will mean reducing the commitment in MPS to providing education in settings that promote racial and ethnic diversity and understanding.
More schools are likely to be made up predominantly of children of uniform characteristics.
However, the critics say there is still a lot of diversity in the MPS population as a whole. He believes the plan will strengthen neighborhoods and that will attract people to the city. The debate over the plan's impact on integration may become an issue in the next round of consideration, before the state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. Moore released a Legislative Fiscal Bureau statement that said the finance committee did not really have to act on the plan by the end of September, as has been widely held. Although that date is given in state law, there is no penalty spelled out and, in effect, the committee could take longer, the statement said.