MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Public Schools is “ready to implement” having student resource officers (SROs) back in schools, but adds the caveat that it will launch “as soon as officers are available”.
In a statement released late Friday, September 13, MPS says it’s taken Act 12 “very seriously from the beginning, engaging with city partners to build a sustainable SRO program”. The district says it has agreed upon a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Milwaukee Police Department to facilitate implementing the SRO program in accordance with Act 12.
“Act 12 was negotiated by the City of Milwaukee and included a provision to levy a sales tax to direct funding to increase public safety personnel in the city of Milwaukee. The new sales tax went into effect on January 1, 2024,” the district says. “MPS is not a recipient of these funds”.
One provision that applied to the City of Milwaukee under Act 12 for gaining approval of a sales tax increase “requires Milwaukee Public Schools to ensure that at least 25 school resource officers are present at schools within the district during normal school hours, and that the school resource officers are available during certain additional time periods and events.” The provisions also stipulated that the SROs would receive 40-hours of training through the National Association of School Resource Officers, and that these provisions would apply to the City of Milwaukee “whether or not the
city exercises the new sales and use tax authority”.
What Act 12 did not provide was a timeline for implementation of the SROs into MPS schools, or consequences to MPS if it failed to complete the implementation.
The district says they have met with Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and they are “committed to reaching a consensus that will support the successful implementation of Act 12 in a manner that is sustainable and mutually beneficial”.
