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Empty MPS Schools Leading to Layoffs
The head of Milwaukee’s public schools is being blunt with parents: MPS likely cannot afford to keep as many teachers in the district’s half-empty schools.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius told parents at a recent community forum that while students and parents would like a full slate of teachers, counselors, and assistant principals at every school, it is just not possible.
“While we’re waiting for families to trust us and send their kids back, do we have the additional resources to continue to stand up those schools is the bigger question to the community.” Cassellius said. “This year alone we stood-up $25 million worth of stand-ups at schools that were underutilized.”
To stand-up a school means to pay extra to keep a teacher, or counselor, or administrator in a particular school building even though there are not enough students or enough dollars to justify that on paper.
Cassellius and MPS are trying to close a $46 million budget deficit from the 2024 school spending plan. The current school budget closes that gap on paper, but a slew of reports warn that because of declining enrollment, and the fewer state dollars that come along with that, as well as spending increase MPS could be looking at a new $400 million deficit in just five years.
Cassellius has talked about closing schools to offset those costs, but Milwaukee’s teachers union and some parents are against the idea.
Cassellius said she understands, but also said the numbers are the numbers.
“The extra resources that you put in, or the assistant principal that [under-utilized schools] got that they wouldn't have gotten, it's those types of trade-offs that we have to decide if we can afford them or not,” Cassellius added.
Milwaukee Public Schools said they have 36 schools that are roughly half full. That means there are between 9,000 and 11,000 empty seats in MPS classrooms.
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