National school choice advocate Howard Fuller to retire from Marquette

Howard Fuller, former superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools and nationally known advocate for school choice, is retiring after decades at Marquette University, where he served as a distinguished professor of education and founder and director of its Institute for the Transformation of Learning.

The university announced his decision in a statement Friday, June 19, 2020 saying he will retire at the end of the month.

“I just felt like it was time,” said Fuller, 79, who acknowledged a weariness in his voice in an interview with the Journal Sentinel on Friday.

“Anybody who’s conscious would be worn out,” he said, an apparent reference to the national tumult over race and racism. “It’s just time to figure out how you make a contribution with everything that’s happening and given the stage of my life I’m at.”