Milwaukee Public Schools Retain DEI Initiatives in New Budget

Included in Milwaukee Public Schools’ newly approved $1.6 billion budget for the 2026–2027 school year are departments for “Gender Identity & Inclusion,” “Restorative Practices,” and “Black and Latino Male Achievement.” These departments and their operational expenses will cost Wisconsin taxpayers almost $1.5 million for the equivalent of 6 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions in the 2026–2027 school year.

The Milwaukee Public School District is currently confronting a number of problems, including low academic performance, lead paint in school buildings, increasing truancy, and declining enrollment. At a time when 73% of the district’s fourth-graders fail to read at a basic level, questions about the district’s priorities emerge.

Given the controversy surrounding the elimination of more than 200 positions in MPS at the beginning of 2026, as well as ongoing debate about the long-term viability of positions added in the district's new budget, the purpose and value of these departments and positions warrant a closer look.

One way to examine the purpose and work of these departments is to take a look at the documents they produce and activities they organize. A review of the district’s department websites found a series of documents related to the promotion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices in MPS.

The MPS district website for Gender Identity and Inclusion contained a number of materials related to MPS's Pride Month activities in June 2025. The website also details lesson plans, promotional documents, reading lists, as well as "Gender Neutral Bathrooms Support & Services" request forms, among others. It remains unclear what Pride Month activities the district put on this year, as MPS has not published comparable documents.

Among the many 2025 Pride Month documents, the Department of Gender & Identity Inclusion posted a “Pride Week of Action Toolkit”.

The toolkit introduction states, “Pride is rooted in resistance and resilience. It is a legacy of courage, joy, and community. As we celebrate, we also honor those who came before — especially queer and trans elders who fought to make spaces like ours possible. And we uplift the next generation, our students, whose voices, identities, and dreams deserve to be cherished and celebrated.”

“To our queer and trans educators: your presence is powerful. Your visibility is transformative. Thank you for being the representation you may not have had, and for helping light the way forward for those coming after.”

“To our educators: thank you for showing up every day, for seeing and affirming our students, and for modeling the kind of love and allyship that makes schools feel like home.”

As stated in the document, the toolkit provides “adaptable lessons, media recommendations, and creative activities that can be used in classrooms, GSAs, advisory, or family engagement spaces.” It contains book and media suggestions for MPS children, teens, and young adults, including the children's book 10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert.

The provided description of the book states, “10,000 Dresses follows the story of a young transgender girl named Bailey, who dreams of wearing extravagant dresses. While her parents are not as accepting or understanding of how to support her, she soon finds a friend who does, and her life is forever changed.”

Another book among the many recommendations is Annie's Plaid Shirt by Stacy B. Davids, which is about a little girl who would rather wear a plaid shirt than a dress to a wedding and her “struggles with conforming to expectations that don't match her identity.”

Later in the document, readers will find a “Trans & Nonbinary Student Affirmation Guide” that offers guidance on affirming students’ gender identities, along with a myth-versus-fact sheet on transgenderism. The toolkit also encourages schools to increase Pride Month visibility through activities such as morning announcements featuring Pride-themed fun facts and an “affirmation of the day.”

The Gender Identity & Inclusion office is not the only department trying to shape school culture.

The Department of Restorative Practices put out a 100-page “Equity Guidebook,” as a directive for the district from 2024–28. The document is supposed to be a roadmap for how the district wants staff to approach equity in schools.

The guidebook repeatedly blames institutional barriers and systemic inequalities for disparities in student outcomes. It also contains land acknowledgments, Black Lives Matter resources, Gender Inclusion Guidance, and links to resources such as “Addressing Microaggressions in the Classroom” and “Anti-Racism for Kids 101: Starting to Talk to Kids About Race.”

Similar themes appear on the MPS’s Department of Black and Latino Male Achievement (BLMA) website. On it, they list their 12 guiding principles:

1. Academic Success

2. Brotherhood

3. Community

4. Cultural Dignity

5. Fatherhood

6. Financial Literacy

7. Historical Understanding

8. Leadership Development

9. Love

10. Self-Care

11. Socio-Political Awareness

12. Understanding "Manhood

The district defines historical understanding as “challenging white supremacist structures, inequity, and traditional narratives with accurate Pan-African and Latino historical frameworks” and socio-political awareness as “understanding political education and social justice and how current events affect Black and Latino male positionality in a traditionally white male hegemony.”

Given that 95% of Milwaukee’s Black fourth graders can’t read or do math at proficient levels, it makes sense that the district would want to address this gap. Critics, however, may wonder why resources are being spent to teach lessons on social justice and DEI in a public school district, and how this is improving students’ ability to read or do math.

Along those same lines, Wisconsin Superintendent Jill Underly recently appointed Kaylee Jackson as the Director of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's Office of Literacy. In an interview done while Jackson was the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Madison Metropolitan School District, she spoke about the need to discuss "white supremacy culture" and "black excellence" in schools and the importance of doing “the work to become antiracist in the gut and in the heart."

Resources that are spent on equity and gender identity initiatives, race theories, and staff training for DEI purposes are resources not spent on improving students' educational outcomes. Regardless of the debate over whether public schools should teach children about gender identity or promote social justice narratives, parents and taxpayers may reasonably question whether these initiatives are the best use of time and resources, particularly as Milwaukee Public Schools face numerous challenges, including budget constraints and some of the worst academic outcomes in the state.

The district's priorities appear disconnected from its purpose to educate children. At a time of persistent academic failure, the district should refocus its resources on topics like reading and math and eliminate programs and positions that don’t directly contribute to improving student outcomes.