MPS board approves $1.6 billion budget, adding more than 570 positions

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The board overseeing Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) overwhelming approved a $1.6 billion budget for 2027 in an 8-1 vote Thursday night, May 28. 

The defining feature of the budget is a staffing shakeup.

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius is pushing for a substantial increase in the number of teachers and teaching assistants while cutting other positions, such as assistant principals and teaching specialists based out of the central office.

The new budget adds a total of 574 positions. With 431 of the added positions for paraprofessionals who will help in classrooms.

The budget also includes 200 additional teacher positions, part of Cassellius' emphasis on having more staff in full-time classroom roles.

"To put this amount into classroom positions really does speak of a gambit that the superintendent is playing," Sara Shaw, deputy research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, said. "To say, 'We need to invest in lower class sizes. We need to do that because that's what staff are asking for. We need to do that because that's what parents are looking for.'"

Cassellius' initial proposed budget had a net increase of 220 full-time jobs. The upward revision this week to 574 raised eyebrows.

The superintendent, now in her second year on the job, said her administration always planned to increase that number by giving more paraprofessionals enough hours to reach full-time status.

The total $96 million increase in personnel spending never changed between versions. Cassellius maintained it was just a matter of determining an exact number of paraprofessionals who will go full-time.

"At the end is when we surveyed our [paraprofessionals]," Cassellius said in an interview Thursday before the board vote. "Looked at how many are actually want to move from 30 [hours] to 40 or from 35 to 40 hours or from 37 to 40 hours, and we made those adjustments at the end."

Plugging a budget gap

To get to this stage, MPS had to plug a $46 million budget gap, which was driven by overspending and unanticipated costs related to a lead abatement crisis.

MPS is plugging this year's gap by cutting $46 million in contracts with outside vendors.

The financial challenges compound the ongoing efforts to improve some of the worst test scores among all large urban U.S. school districts.

Questioning the staffing shift

MPS has traditionally struggled to fill vacant teaching positions, let alone fill hundreds of additional spots.

That skepticism was palpable as union members demonstrated outside central office Thursday evening.

"How are you gonna do that when we already have a massive shortage of positions that weren't being filled to begin with," Joshua Taylor, an MPS paraprofessional, said.

Cassellius said the district will be able to hire more efficiently, despite cutting 10 jobs from the human resources office to save $1 million.

"They have a really aggressive campaign going this summer to be able to hire into all those positions," she said. "It's been my goal since I got here to get a permanently licensed teacher in every classroom, and that remains a top priority for me and for my team."

Cassellius said the district is making changes to its hiring process, particularly to hire externally earlier in the year.

She hinted at wanting to make even more changes, including shifts that will likely upset the union.

"We did have processes for hiring that delayed us getting great candidates," Cassellius said. "We still do have some those processes in place because of agreements we have with our union partners around cycle and internal hiring first before we can hire externally; we do need to correct some of that for the future."

Frustration and future budget woes

Taylor said members also believe the additional hours for paraprofessionals came after a push from union leaders and parents.

The Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) also remains upset with Cassellius' decision to stagger members' 2.63% cost of living adjustment, giving part of it in July and delaying the rest until January.

"Having it half in July, half in January will cause significant loss of income for our educators," Taylor said. "Especially the lower paid ones, like paraprofessionals and child healthcare assistants."

While there was angst in this year's budget, Cassellius said the coming years will be even tougher.

MPS projects it will face a $400 million deficit five years from now unless there are major changes to either revenue or spending.
Shaw said when trying to measure MPS' budgets against its results, it's never cut and dry.

"Milwaukee gets a lot of money to educate its children, from both its own taxpayers and from the state," Shaw said. "It also, when we look nationally, has one of the highest child poverty rates in the country, and I think we have to be able to hold both of these together at the same time."