(The Center Square) – While the Milwaukee Public Schools balanced $1.5 billion budget would have the short-term benefit of avoiding large staffing cuts and limiting property tax hikes, a new report says long-term fiscal concerns still remain.
An estimated $72.5 million increase in state aid limiting the district’s property tax hike and a 2024 voter referendum giving the district a one-time $51 million boost brightened the short-term fiscal outlook.
However the report by Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research policy organization, says “this apparent fiscal stability does not tell the full story.”
The report says potential federal funding cuts, continued reliance on savings from vacant positions to balance the budget and the district’s growing structural budget deficit projected to hit $57 million by 2030 will pose serious threats if left unaddressed.
“The lack of considerable budget pain in 2026 should not mask the severity of MPS’ longer-term fiscal challenges, which are likely to emerge with greater intensity as soon as 2027,” the report said.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius delivered the budget in less than three months since assuming the role in March.
If approved by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, her budget would authorize a long-awaited $16 million project to stabilize lead paint in schools and fund 61 additional facilities maintenance positions.
Under the budget, a central office would be created and maintenance activities would be relocated there to ensure they are prioritized.
The budget would also address the national teacher shortage and the district’s low test scores in math and reading by hiring 10 teachers for instruction of English as a second language and 35 teachers for special education.
Additionally, more than two dozen administrative positions would be eliminated and a plan would be implemented to shift 40 teachers who perform districtwide duties into vacant positions in classrooms.
However, the report points to the budget’s reliance on $75.9 million in savings from vacant positions as a problem, which it calls “a less-than-ideal budget balancing tool.”
“We have urged MPS leaders to reduce the use of a vacancy adjustment,” the report says. “Over the next year, it will be a difficult but critical task” for Cassellius and her management team “to determine a more reasonable vacancy adjustment that is based on the number and types of positions the district genuinely needs.”
Cassellius acknowledged the difficulty of the next year’s budget in a statement first reported by CBS 58 News.
“I want to be real transparent with the public that next year is going to be a really hard year for us,” Cassellius said. “We are going to have to make budget cuts if, in fact, we don’t see new revenues from the state Legislature that are keeping pace with what our students need.”
While Wisconsin Policy Forum concludes the 2025-26 budget cannot be the exact mold for future plans, it applauds Cassellius’ ability to hit the ground running by delivering on lead paint and maintenance issues while staving off academic and workforce challenges for a later budget.
Final adoption of the budget is set to be voted on by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors on Tuesday.
