MADISON, Wisc. — The Milwaukee Public School District is once again having state financial aid being withheld due to financial reports not being submitted on time to the Department of Public Instruction.
Last year, DPI withheld more than $16.6 million dollars in special education funding to the district for not submitting it’s 2023 financial reports. This was due to the MPS Office of Finance having outdated accounting equipment and multiple clerical errors.
In response, DPI worked with MPS to set up a corrective action plan to help get the district office of finance back on track.
But for the second year in a row, Milwaukee Public Schools has once again failed to submit it’s financial reports to the state, leading to more state funding being pulled.
In a statement, DPI Deputy State Superintendent Thomas McCarthy states that,
“Withholding funding is a last resort and comes after countless hours spent supporting MPS. We’ve seen real progress in recent months under the leadership of Dr. Brenda Cassellius, and we recognize and appreciate the hard work that has gone into those efforts. Meeting key deadlines is critical to ensure the DPI can accurately and efficiently calculate general aid estimates for school districts across Wisconsin.”
MPS’s new district superintendent, Dr. Brenda Cassellius was hired back in March and has since been working closely with the district office of finance to provide the required financial reports to state officials.
In response to DPI’s actions, the district also released a statement explaining:
“MPS has been in close coordination with our partners at DPI and clearly understands the action they are taking today. We expect that our team will be able to submit all of the final information and data needed in the coming days and have been assured that state funds can be released quickly after it is reviewed. We expect any withholding of funds to be temporary and will not interrupt services to students in any way.
Since arriving in mid-March Superintendent Brenda Cassellius has been laser focused on shoring up all of the MPS practices that led to this delay and is actively implementing changes to ensure the district is never again in this position.”
Dr. Cassellius released the district’s $1.549 billion total budget on Monday which seeks to restructure an improve positions in the MPS central office and to resolve problems found in the office of finance.
A formal notice will be delivered to MPS later this week by DPI, but amount of state funding being withheld still remains to be seen.
DPI needs all of the state’s financial reports by July 1st in order to properly distribute state-wide funding to districts across the state.
At this time, Milwaukee Public Schools is the only school district left in Wisconsin that has not yet submitted it’s financial reports to DPI.
