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Education
Higher education
Higher education in Milwaukee is dominated by the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee on the East Side and Marquette University, located just west
of downtown. Greater Milwaukee is also served by Alverno College, Cardinal
Stritch University, Carroll College, Concordia University Wisconsin, Medical
College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee Institute of
Art and Design, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Mount Mary College, St. Francis
Seminary, University of Wisconsin-Washington County, University of
Wisconsin-Waukesha and Wisconsin Lutheran College, collectively giving the area
a student population exceeding 70,000, the largest in Wisconsin. A January 2000
study from McGill University in Montreal ranked Milwaukee 6th in a list of U.S.
and Canadian cities with the highest number of college students per 100
residents.
Primary and secondary schooling
Milwaukee maintains Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the largest school district
in Wisconsin and one of the largest in the nation. As of 2006, it has an
enrollment of 95,600 students and employs 6,100 full-time and substitute
teachers in 223 schools. Milwaukee Public Schools operate as magnet schools,
with individualized specialty areas for interests in academics, or the arts.
Golda Meir School, Riverside University High School, Milwaukee School of
Languages, Milwaukee High School of the Arts, and Lynde & Harry Bradley
Technology and Trade School are just some examples of the magnet schools in
Milwaukee. In addition to its public schools, Milwaukee is home to a large
number of parochial schools, including over two dozen private high schools and
hundreds of private middle and elementary schools.
The district has a reputation for a poorly performing student body and efforts
have been underway for years to reform the school system. School District
officials note declining funding as a catalyst to problems in the district.
Of persons in Milwaukee aged 25 and above, 84.5% have a high school diploma, and
27% have a Bachelor's degree or higher. (2000)[26] See also: List of High
Schools in Milwaukee County
School voucher program
In 1990, Milwaukee became the first community in the United States to adopt a
school voucher program. The program enables students to receive public funding
to study at parochial and other private schools free of cost. The 2006-2007
school year will mark the first time that more than $100 million will be paid in
vouchers, as twenty-six percent of Milwaukee students will receive public
funding to attend schools outside the MPS system. If the voucher program alone
were considered a school district, it would mark the sixth-largest district in
Wisconsin.
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