Milwaukee school boss talks of $100M ‘structural imbalance’
The new superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, Brenda Cassellius, has indicated that the district may face a $100 million “structural imbalance” in its budget as early as next year. She attributed part of this financial shortfall to inflation, which has caused increases in costs such as gas, utilities, and food. Cassellius warned that without additional state funding, the district might have to make meaningful budget cuts or find new revenue sources to maintain current service levels. This potential deficit comes shortly after Milwaukee voters approved a $250 million property tax increase for the schools in April 2024.Cassellius stressed her commitment to being a responsible steward of public funds and noted ongoing challenges including declining enrollment, high absenteeism, low graduation rates, and a significant racial learning gap. Despite thes issues and the district’s fiscal management problems, she reported positive discussions with the state legislature’s Republican leadership, who are seeking demonstrated improvements in the district.
Milwaukee school boss talks of $100M ‘structural imbalance’
(The Center Square) – Milwaukee’s new superintendent says the city’s school district will likely need $100 million more.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said on UpFront over the weekend that Milwaukee schools could be looking at a $100 million “structural imbalance” as soon as next year.
“If there is no additional state aid coming in, that would either mean pretty drastic cuts to the district or raising of revenue somehow to be able to continue to provide the same level of service we’re providing today,” Cassellius said.
Cassellius didn’t offer any specifics but blamed inflation for part of the imbalance.
“Any time you have inflation, our gas prices go up, our utility prices go up, our food prices go up. And I’m sure parents are tightening their own belts, and so we’ll be tightening our belts as well as we face what might be up to $100 million structural imbalance that we think we might have next year as we begin to look at the budget for the upcoming school year,” Cassellius added.
The talk of a budget shortfall comes a little more than a year after MPS went to taxpayers for their last budget shortfall.
Voters in Milwaukee approved a $250 million property tax increase for MPS in April 2024.
“I’m a superintendent, and have been a state superintendent, and I like to ask for money all the time,” Cassellius joked on UpFront. “But we do have adequate funding right now, thanks to the wonderful Milwaukee voters who voted for [the] referendum. I think we’d be in a really different place right now had the Milwaukee voters not given us their trust.”
Cassellius said she is “dedicated to making sure that we continue to earn that trust and be good stewards of the public’s money.”
But any request for more money will come as MPS continues to struggle with the loss of state aid because of last summer’s fiscal mismanagement scandal. The district has still not turned in all of its late financial reports.
And there’s MPS’ falling enrollment, as well as the district’s chronic absenteeism rate, low graduation rate, and Milwaukee Public Schools’ worst-in-the-nation racial learning gap.
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Cassellius said she’s already spoken to the Republicans who control the state legislature and is cautiously optimistic.
“[The talks] have gone really well. Obviously, I think they’ll want to see some demonstrated results out of MPS, but they’ve been open and friendly, and I think they want to see change at MPS, too,” Cassellius added.
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