Speakers pressure MPS board to reject any plan to bring police back into schools

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- It became especially clear Monday night the Milwaukee Board of School Directors is feeling the heat from both sides of the debate over bringing police officers back into the district's schools.

It's been nearly 10 months since a new state law took effect allowing Milwaukee to implement a 2% city sales tax. In exchange, the Republican-held Legislature placed a series of conditions on the city, include a requirement that Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) reinstate school resource officers.

The holdup is neither the city nor MPS believe they should be responsible for paying for the officers' costs, which are estimated to add up to $2 million.

Dozens of speakers attended Monday night's meeting of the MPS board's Accountability, Finance and Personnel Committee.

Speakers included students, faculty and alumni. Most read similarly scripted letters that followed a template set by the activist group, Leaders Igniting Transformation. The message was the same: There are better uses for $2 million than taking on the cost of SROs.

"In my opinion, I think the money go to extracurricular (activities) or more than a school counselor- like a school therapist," Joseph Johnson, a senior at North Division High School, said.

Nick Onorato, a parent of three MPS students, said he believed it was unfair to bill the district for reinstating officers as part of a state mandate.

"I'm not standing here to paint MPD as bad guys. They do dangerous jobs in our communities, but we are part of those communities," Onorato said. "We shouldn't have to pay a subscription fee to have our calls answered."

Interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan gave a brief update on the ongoing talks between MPS and City Hall.

Galvan said MPS was ready to implement officers as soon as the Milwaukee Police Department assigned them. He said the sides had mostly reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding, but the city attorney's office had sought some changes.

Galvan reiterated he didn't think the district should pay for the officers.

"MPS stands ready to accept SROs as soon as they are available as MPS does not hire police officers," Galvan said. "MPS did not receive funds from the shared revenue agreement, which was upwards of $200 million."

Jeff Fleming, the spokesperson for Mayor Cavalier Johnson, said on Monday the city's position hasn't changed since Oct. 9, when he issued a sharply worded statement accusing the district of misrepresenting the ongoing talks.

"It is the position of both the Mayor and the Common Council President that the services MPS receives from the Milwaukee Police should be paid by the school district," Fleming said. "Insincere public statements from MPS do not advance good faith discussions."

MPS and the city of Milwaukee have entirely different revenue streams, so the district does not receive any of the additional funding Milwaukee gets from a new city sales tax.

Two members of the Common Council, Peter Burgelis and Sharlen Moore, attended Monday's meeting but did not speak.

Those who did offer comments, including State Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee), called on the board to either look at a possible lawsuit challenging the SRO provision of the state law or simply do nothing and force the state to act.

State Sen. John Jagler (R-Watertown), who chairs the state Senate's education committee, has previously said the law doesn't necessarily have any teeth but added he'd consider pushing to revoke some of the city's shared state revenue if MPS doesn't reinstate officers.