Milwaukee alderman and MPS teacher call for public hearing on budget or resignation of school board

As Milwaukee Public Schools has yet to finish key overdue financial reports, Milwaukee Ald. Scott Spiker is calling on Milwaukee School Board members to hold a public hearing on the school district's budget plan this week or resign from their positions.

"Government that's not transparent, that doesn't share facts with people, that doesn't take their considered viewpoints into account in its deliberations, that's unresponsive to their wishes and unaccountable to their demands — that sort of government we have one word for: undemocratic," Spiker said.

Spiker was joined at a press conference Monday by Angela Harris, a second-grade teacher at Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language and chair of the local Black Educators Caucus. The group had already called on the board to schedule another public hearing on the budget before it votes on it.

When will the Milwaukee School Board vote on the budget?

Since Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Keith Posley presented his budget plan in late April, school board members have held a series of public meetings about the plan and made amendments to save some staff positions that Posley planned to cut.

Board members were originally scheduled to vote on the budget May 30, days after they found out that administrators had failed to submit financial reports to state officials for over eight months. They opted to delay voting on the budget and held an additional public hearing on the budget June 3.

Some community members were frustrated that the June 3 budget hearing, where Posley resigned, was combined with a hearing on the district’s late financial reports, with each speaker given two minutes to address both items together.

The board is now scheduled to vote on the budget Thursday, at a public meeting that is not scheduled to include any opportunities for public comments. The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the district's Central Office, 5225 W. Vliet St., and streamed on the district's YouTube page.

Martha Kreitzman, the district's chief financial officer, told board members they must approve a budget by the end of June. Under state statute, the board must submit a completed budget to the Milwaukee Common Council by Aug. 5.

What did Scott Spiker call for?

Spiker criticized school board members for apparently being unaware that MPS administrators were late on financial reports owed to the state Department of Public Instruction.

"If they cannot exercise oversight power on the administration, then they are feckless; they have no power," Spiker said.

Spiker said if board members refused to hold another public hearing on the budget, they should resign.

"Step down with honor rather than being part of an undemocratic attempt to thwart the will of the electorate," he said.

The Milwaukee School Board lacks authority to appoint board members when board members resign. Instead, as in the case of Aisha Carr's sudden resignation in May, the board can schedule a special election. The date to turn in paperwork for the November election has passed.

Asked about the logistics of resignations, Spiker pivoted. He noted that state law allows circuit court judges to remove board members for inefficiency, neglect of duty, misconduct or malfeasance — though he added that he wasn't accusing board members of that. He also noted that board members could be removed with a recall.

Friday's press conference was Spiker's second on the topic of MPS in two weeks. Last Wednesday, he called on board members not to enact the full referendum approved by voters in April.

What did Angela Harris call for?

Harris, who is also calling for a public hearing, said she and other community members want the chance to share feedback with board members.

"At the top of the organizational chart, it says that the citizens of Milwaukee are at the very top. So at the very least, we should be able to come to the school board meeting and have our concerns not only heard but addressed by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors," Harris said.

The Black Educators Caucus, which forms the Equity Coalition along with the Anti-Racist White Educators and Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), has asked board members to amend the budget plan to include an equity audit.

Harris said such an audit would provide a clearer picture of what resources are needed at schools with the highest academic needs and behavior challenges, to inform future budgets. For example, Harris said, the district could give leaders at the high-needs schools more discretionary funding or pay staff higher salaries to stay in those schools.

Harris said the Black Educators Caucus, which was previously under the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, broke away from the union in 2019. She said the group meets monthly has about 125 members.

What is the response from Milwaukee School Board members?

Milwaukee School Board President Marva Herndon and Vice President Jilly Gokalgandhi didn't immediately return calls Monday morning.

When the Journal Sentinel asked Gokalgandhi last week about adding another public hearing on the budget, she wouldn't comment on whether the board was considering doing so. She said her focus was on submitting the district’s late reports to the state Department of Public Instruction.

“We’ve had our statutory hearings, we’ve had multiple sessions on the budget,” Gokalgandhi said Wednesday. “The board is really focused on getting DPI the information that we need right now so our focus is on what’s most pressing and important.”

Board member Henry Leonard, reached Monday, said the question about a public hearing was something he would have to discuss with other board members.

Leonard pushed back on calls for board members to resign. He said while he had been aware that MPS' audit was late on completion, he was not aware before DPI contacted board members directly on May 24 that it was causing delays in reporting crucial information to the state DPI.

"We are working to make sure this never happens again," Leonard said. "You have to give us the opportunity to take care of it. Bringing in a new board wouldn’t be like pressing a button and everything starts working again. That would be massive chaos."

Milwaukee School Board members, some of whom have other full-time jobs, get an annual salary of $20,490, which board members voted unanimously in April to hold steady.

Contact Rory Linnane at [email protected]. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane. 

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Scott Spiker and Angela Harris call for MPS budget hearing or board to resign