MPS meeting; budget tabled, finance report problem brings heat
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Public Schools’ board meeting on Thursday, May 30, was supposed to be about the $1.5 billion budget proposal, but instead, community members wanted to discuss a scathing, new report from the state.
MPS is months behind on submitting multiple required financial reports to the state, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction announced Wednesday, May 29, in a letter addressed to MPS superintendent Keith Posley. Not only could the delay cost MPS millions of dollars in state aid, every school district in Wisconsin could be affected.
DPI needs every school district in Wisconsin to submit their financial data, so the agency can decide how to allocate funds for its June 2024 financial general aid report. DPI said every school district in the state may be delayed in receiving state aid next month as a result of the MPS delay.
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Amid the latest financial fiasco for MPS, the board did vote to table its proposed budget for the upcoming year. There was no public comment, but that did not stop people from expressing their distrust in the school district. It led to several people being escorted out by police.
Several community members holding signs saying "no confidence" and "fire Posley" were escorted out, among them education advocate Beverly Hamilton-Williams.
"The DPI letter basically validated what we have been saying," Hamilton-Williams said. "For the last two years we have been telling them that there is something array with the budgets that they have been presenting."
The board voted to table the proposed budget, which would cut almost 300 positions, due to lack of confidence.
Board member Darryl Jackson said he had been in the dark regarding the district’s financial status, saying there has been a lack of transparency from the administration.
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"I hate that we weren't given this information, but yet we were elected officials, and we’re beholden, or yet our superintendent is beholden to us," Jackson said. "It’s the other way around."
MPS finance report problem could impact all state school districts
Milwaukee Public Schools is months behind on submitting multiple required financial reports to the state, the Wisconsin DPI announced Wednesday.
Posely did not answer any questions Thursday night.
A special meeting has now been called for Monday, June 3, to allow people to respond to the DPI’s letter.