MPS proposes, then backs off raising top administrator salaries to $200,000
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Top officials at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) proposed giving four high-level administrators raises, then backed off this week amid public backlash.
MPS Interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan approved putting the raises before the Milwaukee Board of School Directors' finance and personnel committee at its meeting Tuesday. The agenda called for the committee to consider boosting four administrators' salaries to $200,000 each:
- Paulette Chambers, chief of staff
- Michael Harris, interim chief school administration officer
- Adria Maddaleni, chief human resources officer
- Jennifer Mims-Howell, chief academic officer
District spokeswoman Nicole Armendariz said each of the administrators are currently paid salaries of $193,693. For comparison, Gov. Tony Evers' salary is $165,568. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson makes $169,436 after receiving a $22,000 raise earlier this year.
The proposed raises came as the finance and personnel committee was set to consider approving a $200,000 salary for the district's new chief financial officer, Aycha Sawa. Sawa previously served as the city of Milwaukee's comptroller before being hired by MPS earlier this month.
On Monday afternoon, however, the proposed raises were struck from the agenda. Armendariz said in a statement Tuesday evening the raises were originally proposed in conjunction with Sawa's salary.
"The item was pulled after further consideration of the district’s current finances," Armendariz said.
Board member Henry Leonard, a member of the finance and personnel committee, said he began hearing complaints over the weekend from parents unhappy about the proposed raises.
"Sunday, I went to pick up some Brewers tickets from somebody, and she's one of our PTO leaders and she drilled me pretty good," Leonard said. "So, I sort of walked away from that going, 'Oh, this isn't good.'"
Tuesday night, the committee approved the proposed salaries for new hires, including Sawa, without any discussion.
Sawa replaces former CFO Martha Kreitzman, who along with former superintendent Keith Posley, resigned in June amid a financial mess in which the district's top officials knew before a $252 million April referendum that MPS was likely facing a reduction in state aid this year to make up for previous overpayments MPS got after giving the state inaccurate financial data.
The district is currently in line to lose an estimated $42.6 million to account for those past overpayments.
While voters narrowly passed the referendum, the district still faced a budget gap and closed it by making cuts. Some of those cuts included trauma specialists in some of Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods.
Critics of MPS, including the group Community Together Voices of Milwaukee's Children, have criticized Galvan's decision to send the proposed raises to the board for consideration.
"Use that money to bring in specialists. Mental health specialists, social and emotional learning specialists," Tamika Johnson, a member of the group, said. "Not give it to administrators."
Johnson helped lead an effort this summer to recall four MPS board members. That effort failed as the group failed to collect enough legitimate signatures, and organizers said they didn't know who was funding the recall effort.
The group has also blasted the conflicting statements the district and city officials have offered on MPS' delay in bringing back school resource officers. The district is now more than eight months late to implement 25 SROs in accordance with a state law that took effect in January.
33% of MPS 4th graders were at or above a basic reading level on the 2022 NAEP test. Only Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit fared worse.
If high-level MPS officials were to get raises, it wouldn't be because of outstanding student achievement. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) standardized test shows Milwaukee had the fourth-worst testing scores out of 26 participating large urban districts.
Thirty-three percent of MPS 4th graders tested at or above basic level in reading, and 40% were at or above basic level in math. In both categories, only Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit fared worse among the 26 large urban districts submitting NAEP data. 2022 was the most recent year for which NAEP data are available.
Leonard said he believed any new funding the board approves should directly impact classrooms.
"One of my parents said to me, 'So, when you improve on your test scores, and you have all your problems figured out, maybe then you can come back and ask the taxpayers to pay more for raises,'" Leonard said.