By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee Public schools has been going through the process of hiring approximately 700 teachers and other new employees, due to a large number of retirements this year.

That process was undoubtedly aided by news that Gov. Scott Walker intended to rid the school district of a silly requirement for all employees live within the city’s boundaries.

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That important change, cemented in the recently adopted state budget, became reality earlier this month.

According to a statement released by MPS Superintendent Gregory Thornton, “All MPS employees (either certified, classified or exempt) are therefore allowed, as of July 2, 2013, to live outside the city of Milwaukee without risk of disciplinary action.”

This is a long overdue.

MPS has been struggling academically for years, and that should be the district’s first concern.

Recent state test scores revealed depressing statistics for schools across Wisconsin. For instance, only 48 percent of students across the state were proficient in math and 36.2 were proficient in reading. Most of the poor scores were more of an indicator of tougher standards that were recently adopted than anything else. Students will need time to adjust.

But Milwaukee scores were truly distressing, with only 20 percent of students proficient in math and 14 percent in reading.

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Given the obvious challenge ahead, it’s clear that the district needs as many quality instructors as it can get as soon as possible, and that need is even more pressing due to the large number of retirements.

But many educators, like other professionals, choose to live in more suburban areas. That should be their absolute right.

By maintaining a residency requirement, MPS was doing nothing more than cheating its students out of quality teachers who may have been interested in working in the district, but not living there.

There’s something terribly wrong with that.

As a Wisconsin State Journal editorial put it, “The state’s largest school district and its many struggling students need the best teachers they can find – regardless of where they live.

“Milwaukee is the only school district in the state – and one of the few major cities in the nation – that imposes a residency requirement on its teachers. The extra demand limits applications for open teaching positions, hurts teacher quality and increases staff turnover.

“New hires who show great promise at inspiring children to succeed in school may need or want flexibility. Let’s give it to them, making their performance in the classroom the priority.

“One of the best things Milwaukee can do to keep its citizens and attract new ones is to improve the reputation of its schools. And that starts with hiring talented teachers among a large pool of applicants from across the region.”