MILWAUKEE — Not all educators are showing support for the Milwaukee Public Schools referendum question that will appear on voters’ ballots on Tuesday.
Former MPS Superintendent Bill Andrekopoulos told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News that he thinks the district could better reallocate its resources before asking voters to help with a $200 million budget deficit.
“The other five urban districts in Wisconsin all have gone out for referendum,” he said. “But prior to that they’ve consolidated, merged or closed schools.”
Andrekopoulus said the district has done the opposite by opening new schools despite declining enrollment. He pointed to data that says five elementary schools have less than 200 students, four middle schools have less than 300 students and some large high schools have less than 400 students.
Current MPS Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News two weeks ago the district would need to make cuts to everything from art and music to library services and school counselors even if they did close schools.
MPS has said they want to use some of the referendum dollars to hire more teachers. Andrekopoulous argued that competition in the education sector might make it difficult to attract new staff.
“In the last referendum, MPS had a whole slate of teachers that they were going to hire,” he said. “They were only able to hire 74% of them.”
Andrekopoulus said other factors like signing bonuses and high recruitment rates in the suburbs are adding to the challenge.
