MPS superintendent tells ‘UpFront’ district could face $100 million structural imbalance

Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius says the district could have a $100 million “structural imbalance” as soon as next year and is already raising the issue with state lawmakers.

“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 on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “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 a $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 said she has met with Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders as she begins her first full school year as superintendent.

“I have met with the Republican leaders,” she said. “They’ve 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.”

Milwaukee voters in April 2024 approved a referendum to allow MPS to increase its revenue limits by $252 million over four years after the district warned it faced a $200 million shortfall for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Cassellius said she spent the summer ensuring all 50 of the district’s schools built before 1950 were cleared of lead issues, which the district announced Friday.

The district recently recouped roughly $33 million from the Department of Public Instruction after a financial crisis led to missed deadlines and accounting errors.

“We have been working on three streams of work at our finance division,” Cassellius said. “The first was just to finish that funding year ’24 audit. We were behind on that. We were missing deadlines.

“The second is the new system of really working toward a better system for FY ’25 audit,” she added. “That’s just the past year, that financial books and making sure those are balanced, making sure that they’re recognized by our auditors, and we’re on track for that, which is great news, and that’s why we were able to get the first $16 million released. And then the second $17 million, that was just released last week, due to us having a plan of our own of self-governing ourselves now because of the improvements we’ve put in place around the control environment, having standard operating protocols and making sure that we are dotting every I and crossing every T with our finances and making sure every dollar is accounted for in a $1.5 billion budget.”

Cassellius said another urgent goal will be implementing the district’s new literacy plan, which in part is the result of Act 20, the state’s new “science of reading law.” Cassellius said it will take several years to see concrete results.

“Realistically, within two to three years,” she said.

Alex Ayala, the Milwaukee Police Association president, says he would welcome the National Guard in Milwaukee amid an ongoing contract dispute with the city.

“Otherwise, how do we control incidents like what happened last weekend or a few months ago that happened downtown in the business district?” Alaya told “UpFront.” “We have all these incidents that are out of control. We don’t have the staffing for it. I’m sure that the National Guard would do a great job in helping us out.”

Ayala said he would see Guard members helping with security checkpoints, crowd control and added visibility “while the police officers can handle the actual crime prevention and making arrests.”

“So for me, if you want to bring me help from the National Guard, I’ll take it,” Ayala added. “Do we have to do it? No, we don’t. The mayor has the power to fully have the police department to settle our contract.”

Meanwhile, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is blasting Ayala’s call for the National Guard, calling it “pretty peculiar and pretty infuriating at the same time.”

“Why do I say that?” Johnson said. “I say that because in my office, just a few months ago, he came in, he sat down, and he was with a bunch of folks, and he was asking me, and they were asking me, what we could do in order to make sure that ICE and immigration, we’re not clamping down on people at Mexican Fiesta.

“That’s what he said,” Johnson added. “So I don’t understand why he’s interested in bringing in federal troops now, bringing in the federal government now, when he was against it just before. I don’t really get that.”

Johnson said the city is “leaving no stone unturned” to hire more officers, and said there is no scenario he would welcome or request National Guard members in the city.

“No, not in this case,” he said. “There’s no insurrection. There’s no rebellion happening. I don’t think that’s the role of the United States military to do that. Now, as I mentioned, there are other spaces in which the city and federal government have worked together, and I’d be more than happy to continue to sort of partnerships, so whether it’s working with the FBI or ATF in targeted enforcement on criminals and pulling those folks off the street, I’d be happy to do that with the Trump administration or any administration.”

Kim Sajet, the former head of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery who resigned after President Donald Trump said he would fire her, has now been tapped to lead the Milwaukee Art Museum.

“As you probably know, the president of the United States felt that I was leaning too much into diversity and opening the doors to access and inclusion,” Sajet told “UpFront.” “And I’m not going to go into that to the extent that I will say that I’m proud of the work that I did. I always sort of was guided by the words of the Great Seal of America, E pluribus unum, out of many, one. And I apply the same approach here. I think we can have many doors in which people can walk through from many different backgrounds, but you end up in the same big room.

“I have a deep respect for the Smithsonian,” Sajet added. “I loved being there. Its mission is the increase and diffusion of knowledge. I believe that’s something that we can also carry with us. I think museums are incredibly important in helping pass on information to the next generation and making us sort of just smarter and more empathic. So it was an interesting time. I decided to step away because no one’s institution should be focused on a single individual, and it just made sense that if I removed myself from the picture, the institution, both the portrait gallery and the Smithsonian, could maybe move on from the spotlight that was suddenly put on because of me.”

See more from the show.