MPS Board to meet Thursday, discuss COVID-19 funding for schools
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Public Schools Board will meet Thursday night, Feb. 18 to discuss COVID-19 funding for schools. It comes amid a heated debate in the Badger State over in-person learning versus remote.
The MPS board on Thursday will discuss potential funding from the $68 million Federal Coronavirus Relief Package dedicated to education.
Under a new deal, state Republican lawmakers voted to distribute that funding to schools based on the number of hours of in-person learning offered.
MPS is still mainly virtual -- meaning they would receive a portion of the funding -- but not as much as their in-person counterparts.
MPS Board members wrote a resolution in December calling on Congress to provide the resources necessary to support extraordinary costs already incurred as districts have moved to remote education.
They also asked for resources to ensure every classroom, no matter the size, is safe for students.
Right now, MPS has a tentative plan to reopen schools in April -- starting on April 12 with pre-k through second grade -- then gradually adding back all students by April 26.
They are set to vote on that plan next month.
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Republicans say the goal of the funding deal is two-fold -- help schools cover the higher costs of being in-person and convince others to open their doors.
However, Democrats and school officials are accusing Republicans of trying to bully them into reopening with this smaller pot of money.
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