MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Public Schools are asking for funding through a referendum, and working with police to put school resource officers back on school property. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News on Friday he agrees the district is in need of both.
Mayor Johnson said funding shortfalls have plagued public schools, local governments and higher education across Wisconsin: “The model is broken because they’re not getting the base support that they should be getting from the state.”
Opponents of the $252 million referendum on the ballot for Milwaukee voters on April 2 have said it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars, especially considering that MPS passed a referendum just four years ago.
But Mayor Johnson argued that continued budget deficits have become a harsh reality that public schools must grapple with.
“Many school districts outside of MPS have gone to referendum for a whole host of reasons,” he said. “If these other school districts are using this tool in order to make sure their kids have access to great facilities or whatever the case may be, then I think Milwaukee Public Schools and the students there should have access to the same tool.”
School Resource Officers were supposed to be back in Milwaukee Public Schools three months ago, as mandated by Wisconsin’s Act 12 shared revenue law passed last summer. But MPS has yet to reintroduce a minimum of 25 officers since its last contract with the Milwaukee Police Department ended in June 2020.
Mayor Johnson told WTMJ that he’s in favor of placing officers back on school property, but not inside the classroom.
“I don’t think that police need to be hovering over kids when they’re eating lunch or watching over kids when they’re getting their books out of their locker,” he said. “But after school, when something is likely to pop off…like people driving recklessly and mounting the curb driving towards kids on school property. I want police to be there as a detterant.”
According to Mayor Johnson, MPS is still in the process of working with the Milwaukee Police Department to implement school resource officers. They likely won’t be back in schools before the end of the current school year.
