$11.6 million could be returned to MPS schools

Chief proposes taking funds from central office

Four days into his job as interim superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, Keith Posley is proposing to radically alter the district’s 2018-’19 budget by slashing millions of dollars from the central office to return $11.6 million to classrooms.

“I want to emphasize that we have made a 2.5 (percent) adjustment at the central administration building and zero cuts to schools,” Posley said at a budget committee meeting Thursday night.

The move was cheered by the teachers union, which has been protesting the budget introduced by former superintendent Darienne Driver, which included a 5% per pupil reduction in each school to close a yawning hole in the district’s finances.

If Posley’s proposal passes the full board on Tuesday, about $13.2 million would be cut from central administration by way of a restructuring of the office.

The reorganization would eliminate the Office of Innovation, started under Driver’s predecessor Gregory Thornton. It would also streamline the number of upper-level managers.

Posley implied that while central office positions would be reduced, the people who hold those positions could be reassigned to other positions including school-based roles.

Driver departed MPS to become CEO of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Posley assumed the role of interim superintendent Monday, putting together his changes to Driver’s proposed budget in three days, though he had been speaking to stakeholders behind the scenes for weeks.

Posley’s suggested changes come amid what Driver identified as a $30 million budget gap. The district also faces declining enrollment, aging infrastructure and steep healthcare costs.

“We wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place if public schools were funded properly from Madison and all those cuts hadn’t taken place,” special education teacher Patricia Pingitore said in interview.

With a proposed budget of about $1.2 billion, Posley suggested making cuts from areas including operations, finance and human resources departments. He also proposed new avenues to recruit and retain teachers.

Some of Posley’s proposed changes include:

❚ Cutting $13.6 million from central administration.

❚ Restructuring central office to eliminate more than 32 full-time positions.

❚ Adding 20 full-time equivalent safety positions in schools.

❚ Developing more supplemental and parttime positions for teachers.

❚ Having students present to the board once a month.

The preliminary budget will be re-visited in fall and finalized after the official enrollment count in September.

In its annual review of MPS finances released Friday, the Wisconsin Policy Forum said the factors that converged in 2019 to make the MPS budget difficult are “unfortunate and alarming” but not surprising.

The report identified two major challenges that remain even if the district can put off a budget crisis for another year: A lack of financial support to increase enrollment and improve academic achievement, and the lack of a strong strategic plan to fix operations and continual budget problems in the long-term.

While MPS benefited unexpectedly from reduced health care costs and more new teachers with lower salaries the past two years, the report indicates the ongoing budget problems the district has faced in the past are back.

These problems include “reductions in state and federal funding accompanied by strict limits on local revenue.”

After concerns were raised during Thursday’s hearing over the need for health care benefits for full-time substitute teachers, the board passed an amendment that will create a pool of 75 full-time teachers, known as substitute teachers on special assignment, who can qualify for benefits starting Jan. 1.

Substitute teacher Alex Brower, who began a hunger strike three weeks ago to bring attention to the lack of health benefits available to substitutes in the district, announced the end of his strike to a small group after the meeting.

“We didn’t get everything we wanted but I need to live another day to win the rest of it,” Brower said.