Number
240553
Version
SUBSTITUTE 1
Reference
220724
Sponsor
ALD. CHAMBERS AND COGGS
Title
Substitute resolution amending the City of Milwaukee’s Legislative Package to seek introduction and passage of state legislation authorizing Cities of the First Class to regulate or prohibit for-profit institutions of higher learning.
Analysis
This resolution amends the City of Milwaukee’s Legislative Package to include the introduction and passage of state legislation authorizing Cities of the First Class to regulate or prohibit for-profit institutions of higher learning.
Body
Whereas, For-profit institutions of higher education consistently have “worse outcomes on [student] earnings, debt, and default” than both non-profit and public institutions of higher education, according to May, 2021, research from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University; and
Whereas, At the same time, May, 2020, research from the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy finds that for-profit institutions “account for about 40% of all higher education advertising spending, while serving just 6% of students”, and that for-profits outspend “nonprofits 4 to 1 and publics 20 to 1 on a per-student basis”; and
Whereas, The aforementioned Brookings publication consequently recommends increased regulation of for-profit colleges to ensure accurate representation in advertising, as well as general accountability and transparency; and
Whereas, Elimination of the Wisconsin Educational Approval Board in September, 2017, risked making Wisconsin “the only state in the nation without any meaningful oversight of private postsecondary education institutions”, whether for-profit or non-profit, as then-Executive Secretary of the Board David Dies wrote in an undated position paper; and
Whereas, In a January, 2024, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel op-ed, the presidents of the National Black Nurses Association’s Milwaukee Chapter and Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Healthcare Professionals Local 500 wrote, “[f]or-profit colleges […] descended on Milwaukee before and during the Great Recession. While their executives were paid exorbitant salaries, and their stockholders realized outsized returns, the students they recruited from Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods were left jobless with broken dreams, credits that didn’t transfer, useless degrees, and huge debt”; and
Whereas, Being a First Class City under ch. 62, Wis. Stats, Milwaukee has what the League of Wisconsin Municipalities characterizes as “special grants of authority” on matters ranging from budgeting and education, to land and street use, to public safety; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that the Office of the City Clerk - Legislative Affairs Division is directed to advocate for changes to state statutes that would allow Cities of the First Class to regulate or prohibit for-profit institutions of higher learning; and be it
Further resolved, That Common Council Resolution File Number 220724 is amended by inserting the following item in the document attached to the file and identified as “Amended State Legislative Package”:
|
Local Control & Flexibility |
Common Council |
Seek passage of state legislation to enable Cities of the First Class to regulate or prohibit for-profit institutions of higher learning. |
; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City Clerk shall forward copies of this resolution to members of the City of Milwaukee’s delegation to the Wisconsin Legislature.
Requestor
Drafter
Ned Littlefield
LRB 180079-2
07/30/2024