They don’t like people trying to improve schools for the kids if it eats into their power and money.

Milwaukee Public School officials have rejected a plan from the county executive and his appointed commissioner to create a county-led turnaround program for the district’s lowest performing schools. District leaders countered with their own proposal, which they said will meet requirements set out in state law.

Milwaukee schools Superintendent Darienne Driver and school board president Mark Sain responded Friday morning to a proposal released in April by Demond Means, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District and commissioner of the Opportunity Schools Partnership Program. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele appointed Means to head up the program after it was created by the state Legislature as part of the state’s 2015-17 budget.

The 2015 law calls for the partnership to take over the operation of up to three schools for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years and up to five schools in following year. Under the plan released by Means and Abele in April, the partnership would run one school next year using a community school model, which means bringing in community organizations to provide wrap-around services like a health clinic and social services. The school would be run by a charter school operator but remain part of the Milwaukee district and employees would also remain in the district and their unions.

The whole point of the reform plan was to take the schools away from MPS. These are schools that have been failing for years and the MPS leadership has failed to improve them. The law calls for the schools to be removed from MPS control so that they can improve.

MPS is flagrantly thwarting the law. The state needs to forcefully enforce the law on behalf of the kids.