When Cardinal Stritch announced in April that the university, founded in 1937, was closing down, it was a devastating shock to students and alumni and an example of the financial perils many higher education institutions are facing.
The 44-acre Cardinal Stritch campus, located in Glendale and Fox Point, was put up for sale.
The Ramirez Family Foundation bought the campus for $24 million, with plans to establish a school there. The foundation was created by Gus Ramirez, the executive chairman of Waukesha-based manufacturer Husco International, and his wife, Becky Ramirez. The Ramirez family provided about $60 million to launch St. Augustine Preparatory Academy in 2017. The private, Christian K4-12 school in Milwaukee has about 1,400 students. The school has a “significantly exceeds expectations” rating on state Department of Public Instruction report cards.
Aug Prep serves a primarily Hispanic student population on Milwaukee’s south side. Gus Ramirez has talked in the past about opening a second school to serve children on the city’s north side. If that vision comes to fruition at the former Cardinal Stritch campus, it would be great for Milwaukee.
But for some, voucher schools like Aug Prep are controversial. They argue that the state’s school choice program drains funds from the public schools and that taxpayer dollars shouldn’t go to religious schools.
The state has an important obligation to educate children, and it’s necessary for taxpayers to fund that. But we shouldn’t get hung up on a public school versus voucher school debate. The goal should be to provide each student a quality education, regardless of which school they receive that education. The idea should be to fund students’ education, not to fund schools. Allocate funding to educate kids and give their parents the option to choose the appropriate school for their child, and that school should receive the funding to educate them.
All schools that receive taxpayer funding should be held accountable and subject to state review. There’s no reason we can’t have a system that enables quality public schools and voucher schools – and their students – to thrive.
Voucher schools aren’t going away. Charter and choice schools in Milwaukee now account for about 40% of enrollment in Milwaukee schools. MPS must coexist with them.
As successful as some of the voucher schools in Milwaukee have been, they’ve been challenged by a disparity in funding. MPS gets $5,000 to $6,000 in additional public funding per student. Choice and charter schools fundraise to make up the difference, but that’s not a sustainable model.
The new state shared revenue law includes a funding increase for voucher and charter schools. Gus Ramirez said that was key to his decision to buy the Cardinal Stritch campus.
Fantastic. Let’s hope it’s revitalized into another outstanding school like Aug Prep.
