MPS board passes budget that restores $11.6 million to classrooms, cuts central office

Diana Dombrowski | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Public Schools Board passed the 2018-'19 budget at a special meeting Tuesday night, slashing millions of dollars from the central office and returning $11.6 million to classrooms.

Interim Superintendent Keith Posley made changes to former superintendent Darienne Driver's proposed budget just three days after assuming the office last week.

The vote was unanimous. The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, which protested Driver's 5% per pupil reduction in school budgets, cheered the board's move.

“I feel this is a golden opportunity for the young people in the city of Milwaukee to receive a support that’s needed in the classrooms,” Posley said in an interview.

The $1.17 billion budget makes cuts to areas including operations, finance and human resources departments. The cuts to the central office will eliminate more than 32 full-time positions, some of which could be reassigned as school-based jobs.

Since assuming the role of interim superintendent, Posley has also proposed new avenues to recruit and retain teachers, including offering part-time and supplemental teaching positions.

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Posley's changes to Driver's budget came amid what she identified as a $30 million budget gap. The district also faces declining enrollment, aging infrastructure and steep health care costs.

“I’m relieved and I’m hopeful and I’m looking forward to the '18-'19 school year. I think this is a budget that makes some clear value statements about students and classrooms and the educators in classrooms who work with them every day,” said Amy Mizialko, special education teacher and vice president of the MTEA.

About $13.2 million will be cut from central administration through a restructuring of the office. The reorganization will eliminate the Office of Innovation, started under Driver's predecessor Gregory Thornton. It will also streamline the number of upper-level managers.

The board also voted in favor of an acceleration of the road to a $15-an-hour minimum for employees, moving from a five-year to a four-year path.

According to the Wisconsin Policy Forum's annual review of MPS finances, the district faces the same systemic problems it has faced in the past: Not enough financial support to increase enrollment and improve academic achievement, and the absence of a strong strategic plan to fix operations and continual budget problems in the long term.

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