MILWAKEE — The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction announced Thursday that it’s withholding a $16.6 million payment to Milwaukee Public Schools for special education services.
The funding suspension comes after the DPI warned MPS Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley that it would withhold aid payments over overdue financial reports dating back to September.
The DPI is also threating to withhold a general aid payment on June 17 if the district does not have a corrective action plan in place approved by the DPI.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s office said the mayor will hold a news conference on Friday, June 7 at 10:30 a.m. to “discuss future steps to improve education in Milwaukee and to address the immediate challenges at Milwaukee Public Schools.”
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce President and CEO Dale Kooyenga told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News that he supports a mayoral takeover of MPS.
“The other alternative would be to have some of the school board seats appointed and others elected, a hybrid of those both,” said Kooyenga.
Mayor Johnson has previously said he has no interest in breaking up the school district or putting the mayor’s office in charge.
MPS will be able to recover the suspended funds after submitting late reports, according to the DPI.
MPS Board Vice President Jilly Gokalgandhi told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that DPI has provided comments on a draft corrective action plan the board submitted Wednesday, and that MPS is working on revisions.
In a statement issued Thursday, the school board said “MPS is optimistic that the Corrective Action Plan will allow the district’s general aid payment to be received on time, and that its special education aid payment will also be released at that time.”
