MILWAUKEE — In a letter to Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the Department of Public Instruction informed them on Wednesday they plan on halting payments to the district because of incomplete financial reports.
Sachin Chheda is the Executive Director of the DPI, and told WTMJ this is an extremely unique situation.
“What we have indicated to them (MPS) is that we are very unlikely to be able to move forward with payments without some plan for how they are going to get us the data that we need,” Chheda said.
MPS released the following statement regarding the letter from DPI:
“On Friday, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors received a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). We are aware of the matter and are working closely with DPI and multiple stakeholders to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. We are committed to ensuring all requested information is submitted in a timely manner. The Board remains committed to its obligations to our students, their families, and the people of Milwaukee. We take this matter seriously and we are confident that we will be able to course correct promptly.”
Chheda specifically mentioned “budget information” and “audited financial information” as data that DPI is missing from MPS. He said “assurances” had been made that DPI would receive the data, but the organization decided to halt payments because of the approaching deadline for submitting aid packages.
Because MPS is the largest school district in Wisconsin, their funding can have implications for the rest of the state.
“We have to make sure that, a month from now, when we deliver aid estimates to the rest of the state that those are as accurate as possible,” Chheda said. “That’s why we are riding MPS hard.”
According to Chheda, every other school district in Wisconsin has submitted their financial information and MPS has historically been reliable to do the same.
Going forward, the DPI will be expecting a plan from MPS on how they are going to submit the relevant financial information. According to Chheda, the two organizations have been in contact with each other and he feels confident that a solution is possible:
“Today, I am confident that they (MPS) are going to do what they need to do so that we can make these aid payments… give the taxpayers confidence that those investments are being made with good and accurate data.”
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