MILWAUKEE – President Barack Obama’s visit to Milwaukee Tuesday to rally with Mary Burke will take place at a school with just a 51% graduation rate.

Erin Richards of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

With funds allocated under the 2009 federal stimulus, the persistently lowest-performing schools got an infusion of federal cash if they agreed to implement one of four major turnaround models prescribed by the Obama administration, such as replacing the principal or closing and restarting as a charter school.

MPS was initially eligible for about $45 million under the school turnaround initiative.

Eventually, $3.75 million made its way to the restart of North Division, according to figures provided by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

That triggered full-time consultants — a group called Mosaica Turnaround Partners got the contract for North — professional development sessions for staff and a lot more paperwork.

From rock bottom, there’s been a small uptick in test scores and attendance rates at North in the past few years. But certainly not the radical improvement envisioned by the Obama initiative.

“We just test kids all the time,” said Lukas Wierer, a social studies teacher at the school. “I always think the answer is more teachers. Where is the grant for more teachers?”

About 80% of students attended school regularly in 2012-’13, the most recent data available, up from 72% in 2011-’12.

The graduation rate has barely budged. Just over 51% of students graduated in four years in 2012-’13, up slightly from 2009-’10, when just under half of students graduated.

Today, the extra federal grants have been spent, and North is part of a different MPS reform initiative: Commitment Schools.

The effort is directing extra district funding to some of the 48 schools in MPS with failing grades on their state report cards for “rigorous academic and behavioral interventions,” according to the district.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

This really is an amazing and appropriate image.

President Barack Obama and Mary Burke will rally at one of the lowest performing schools in Wisconsin despite the fact that both candidates oppose giving the parents of children in low performing schools a choice in education. The leadership in Milwaukee who are failing these children will undoubtedly be in attendance. And one can expect that the status-quo defenders leading the state and local teachers unions will work their way into the front row.

Mary Burke has reluctantly said she would maintain the school choice program in Milwaukee, but would like to see the program rolled back statewide.

And President Obama’s Department of Justice is currently engaged in a probe of Wisconsin’s school choice program.

But today’s rally won’t be about the children. It will be about electing Mary Burke and ensuring that the status quo in education is maintained. A status quo that results in under-performing schools and politicians who oppose giving parents choice and opportunity in education.

Authored by Collin Roth

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Published with permission