Milwaukee Residency Requirement Unfair

Update: In the 2007-08 legislative session, this bill passed the Assembly but did not pass the Senate. The next opportunity for it to be introduced will be in January 2009 when the new Legislature convenes.

This is a 2009-10 WEAC Legislative Agenda item.

Milwaukee Teacher Debbie Karow, who is required to live in the city of Milwaukee, is having a very difficult time finding an affordable home that meets the needs of her family.

Karow, who helps care for her disabled mother, told the Assembly Education Committee Tuesday (September 25, 2007) that she has been looking for a house in Milwaukee that would accommodate her mother’s needs and allow her mother, her mother's caregiver, her husband, and herself to live together.

"Unfortunately, I am having a difficult time finding a home in my price range with a wide hallway to accommodate my mother’s wheelchair," she said.

In addition, she said, her husband who is a mortgage broker, has exhausted his job search in Milwaukee and is now looking for a job in the Chicago area, which would make a home south of Milwaukee ideal for the family.

"I have found affordable and spacious homes in Oak Creek and Greenfield, but because of the Milwaukee residency requirement, these homes are not options for us," Karow said in testifying in favor of Assembly Bill 482, which would prohibit Milwaukee Public Schools from requiring teachers to live in the city. The bill was a 2007-08 WEAC Legislative Agenda item and continues to be a 2009-10 WEAC Legislative Agenda item..

It is for reasons like Karow's that the residency requirement is placing an unfair burden on the personal lives of Milwaukee teachers, the committee was told.

"At this time, MPS is having a difficult time attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers," said Karow, a special education teacher at Craig Montessori School. "We know that having highly qualified teachers in the classroom makes a difference. In certain areas, like special education, MPS has a great shortage of fully certified teachers.

"In talking to some of the teachers who have left the district, residency was a major factor," she told the committee. "I know other teachers who didn’t even apply in MPS due to the residency requirement. They didn’t want to give up their homes. Others, with spouses who worked, wanted to live at a mid-point so both spouses wouldn’t have far to drive. Others simply didn’t like requirements put on them.

"Our goal," she told the committee, "should be to get the best and brightest teachers into classrooms in Milwaukee and we should strive to remove any barrier to that goal. To do so, helps our children, helps Milwaukee, and in the long run, helps our state."

Posted September 25, 2007; Updated August 14, 2008