(The Center Square) – One Wisconsin lawmaker says the law is clear, and Milwaukee Public Schools are clearly violating it. But it’s much less clear whether a Milwaukee judge can force the city’s school district to bring police officers back into school buildings.
A judge on Thursday ordered MPS to comply with the state law that requires Milwaukee schools return 25 school resource officers to their buildings.
That law took effect last January, but MPOS has not returned any.
State Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, said there shouldn’t be any confusion.
“The law couldn’t be more clear. MPS needs to put school resource officers back into the schools. This is great news that a Milwaukee judge agrees with what we’ve been saying for months. It’s bonkers that it took a lawsuit to get MPS to follow the law,” Jagler wrote on social media.
But the 2024 law doesn’t include any consequences for MPS for failing to put the officers back in school. And it’s unclear what consequences the judge will impose if MSP continues to fail.
“The ‘or else’ is having to show up in court on Feb. 17 and explain to the judge why nothing has happened,” Lucas Vebber, Deputy Counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty told The Center Square. “The judge has not made clear what else would happen in the event that they do not comply. Holding them in contempt is always an option. The judge plans to issue a written decision by the end of day Monday, and so that could shed a little more light on the situation.”
WILL sued Milwaukee Public Schools over the district’s non-compliance. WILL represents a mother who says the lack of school resource officers is putting her children, and other MPS students, at risk.
MPS leaders have said they are working on a plan to return the officers, but the district is blaming Milwaukee Police for the delay.
MPS’s school board has said the district doesn’t hire, train or pay for police officers, and the district cannot be held responsible for what Milwaukee Police have not done.
Jagler has said in the past that the intent of the 2024 state law is clear, and lawmakers clearly intended for MPS to pay for its own school resource officers.
“Students need to be safe before they can learn. Returning the SROs to MPS helps make that possible,” Jagler added. “It’s a shame it came to this.”