MPS school resource officers, board approves funding motion
MPS board approves SRO funding motion
The Milwaukee school board approved a motion to authorize the necessary funding to comply with a judge's school resource officer order.
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Board of School Directors on Thursday night unanimously approved a motion to authorize the necessary funding to comply with a judge's order related to the return of school resource officers.
The backstory:
In 2023, Gov. Tony Evers signed a law that allowed Milwaukee to implement a sales tax. Part of the deal required MPS to put 25 school resource officers in schools by January 2024. A parent sued when that didn’t happen.
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Milwaukee County Judge David Borowski on Monday ordered MPS and the city to split the cost of school resource officers 50-50 and gave them a Feb. 27 deadline to comply. The total cost is estimated to be just short of $1.6 million for a school year.
What's next:
FOX6 News asked interim MPS Superintendent Eduardo Galvan where the money comes from in the district budget. He said he isn't exactly sure yet, but insists MPS has a plan.
"A lot depends on how many officers are actually available, so, you know, that will depend – so if there's 10 available, we will have a plan for those. If there's 20 available, if there's 25, so, we will have a plan," he said. "We do have a plan, but until we know specifics, it's a little bit hard for me to say exactly what that is."
The city and the school district still need to come to an agreement, officially a memorandum of understanding, that will govern the partnership. The city attorney's office has a hand in that.
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FOX6 reached out to a city spokesperson to see where things stand at City Hall, but did not immediately hear back.
In a statement, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors said it "anticipates the arrival" of school resource officers before the Feb. 27 deadline.
The Source: FOX6 News attended Thursday's meeting and referenced prior coverage of the situation for this report.