City of Milwaukee has more skin in MPS battle than press and public realize

By Brian Fraley | A Dairyland Sentinel Perspective

Corri Hess, ironically the education reporter for taxpayer-financed Wisconsin Public Radio, scoffed at a Milwaukee alderman’s call for greater transparency and accountability from Milwaukee Public Schools.

As Dairyland Sentinel and others reported on Monday, Milwaukee Common Council member Scott Spiker held a news conference wherein he demanded that the board members of the Milwaukee Public School district either hold a public hearing with public testimony this week on their budget, or collectively resign their positions

“A city alderman has absolutely nothing to do with public schools. His ideas are the same as mine and yours,” Hess sneered on the social media platform X.

Not so fast. The dysfunction and size of MPS are not the only things that set it apart from other school districts. MPS and the City have a special relationship in several different ways, as written in state statutes, Chapters 17 and 119. Chapter 119 specifically lays out the rules governing a First Class City School District. Milwaukee is the only city with a large enough population to be designated as a first class city.

For example, the City Attorney is actually the attorney of record for MPS.

MPS must file an annual fiscal report to the City of Milwaukee.

Finally, it can be argued that the City of Milwaukee Common Council could remove the board by a 3/4th vote.

So, in fact, a City of Milwaukee Alderman absolutely does have something to do with MPS.

Here are some relevant statutes

WIs Stats 119.12 Board; general provisions (1) Board members are subject to all restrictions, liabilities, punishments and limitations, including recall under s. 9.10 (4), prescribed by law for members of the common council in their city. A majority of the members-elect of the board may dismiss from office for malfeasance any member of the board. The board shall provide by resolution the manner of hearing and disposing of complaints against a board member.

(2) In any action or proceeding in which the board is a defendant, service of any summons, writ, pleading or other papers served in commencing the action or proceeding upon the board president and the superintendent of schools constitutes service upon the entire board. It is sufficient to serve on such 2 officers any notice required by law to be served upon the board.

The City of Milwaukee Attorney is responsible for representing the School District.

WIs Stats 119.12(6) (a) The city attorney of the city shall be the legal adviser of and attorney for the board, except that the board shall retain an attorney to represent the board in any matter if any of the following applies:

1. The mayor, the common council, the city attorney, or the board determines that the board requires specialized legal expertise not possessed by the city attorney.

2. The mayor, the common council, the city attorney, or the board determines that the city attorney does not have sufficient staff to adequately represent the interests of the board.

3. The mayor, the common council, the city attorney, or the board determines that a conflict of interest exists.

(b) The city attorney shall notify the board as soon as a determination is made under par. (a) that the city attorney is unable to represent the board. The board shall provide the city attorney with reasonable notice of any board meeting at which the board will consider retention of an attorney.

History: 1977 c. 318, 403, 445, 447; 1983 a. 27; 1985 a. 158; 1991 a. 39; 2015 a. 55.

As far as the District’s budget goes, it’s also guided by state statutes.

WisStats 119.16 (8) Budget.

(a) Annually before adopting its budget for the ensuing school year and at least 5 days before transmitting its completed budget under par. (b), the board shall hold a public hearing on the proposed school budget at a time and place fixed by the board. At least 45 days before the public hearing, the board shall notify the superintendent of schools and the commissioner of the date, time, and place of the hearing. At least one week before the public hearing, the board shall publish a class 1 notice, under ch. 985, of the public hearing.

(b) The board shall transmit its completed budget to the common council on or before the first Monday in August of each year on forms furnished by the auditing officer of the city, and shall include in the budget the information specified under s. 119.46 (1) for all public schools in the city under this chapter, including the schools transferred to the opportunity schools and partnership programs under s. 119.33 and subch. II. The board shall itemize those portions of the budget allocated to schools transferred to the opportunity schools and partnership programs under s. 119.33 and subch. II. Such completed budget shall be published with the budget summary under s. 65.04 (2) or 65.20 and budget under s. 65.05 (7).

(9) School budget. Annually, the board shall prepare a budget for each school in the school district operating under this chapter, other than the schools transferred to the opportunity schools and partnership programs under s. 119.33 and subch. II.

Oh and the data that DPI says MPS has failed to properly submit since September? The District is supposed to send that to the City of Milwaukee first. Did they? Have they ever done this?

Does Hess know this? Has she asked the City Clerk if such a report is on file? Has any mainstream reporter?

Wis Stats 119.44 Board report. (1) The board shall file its annual financial report with the city clerk and shall send a copy of the report to the state superintendent.

(2) Annually at such times as the department prescribes but on or before September 1, the board shall file a verified annual report with the department, on forms supplied by the department. The annual report shall contain all of the following:

(a) Prior school year attendance data, including all of the following categorized by school, grade, gender and ethnicity:

1. The number of children:

a. Attending a technical college under s. 118.15 (1) (b) or (cm).

b. Excused from school attendance under s. 118.15 (1) (c).

c. Provided each of the program or curriculum modifications under s. 118.15 (1) (d).

2.

a. The number of pupils suspended, the number of suspensions and the total number of school days missed as a result of suspensions under s. 120.13 (1) (b).

b. The number of pupils expelled, the number of expulsions and the total number of school days missed as a result of expulsions under s. 120.13 (1) (c).

3. The number of pupils transferred by the school board to a different school in the same school district.

4. The high school graduation rate.

5.

a. The number of pupils enrolled in each school transferred to the superintendent of schools opportunity schools and partnership program under s. 119.33, as reported by the superintendent of schools in the enrollment report submitted under s. 119.33 (2) (b) 5.

b. The number of pupils enrolled in each school transferred to the opportunity schools and partnership program under subch. II, as reported by the commissioner in the enrollment report submitted under s. 119.9002 (2) (f).

(b) Scores of the standardized reading tests administered to pupils during the prior school year under s. 121.02 (1) (r), categorized by school, gender and ethnicity.

(bm) The performance of pupils on the assessments administered during the prior school year under s. 118.016 (3), categorized by school, gender, and ethnicity.

NOTE: Par. (bm) is created eff. 7-1-24 by 2023 Wis. Act 20.

(c) The information specified under s. 120.18 (1) (gm) and (i).

(d) The information specified under s. 120.18 (1) (a).

(3) Rules promulgated under s. 120.18 (3) apply to the information reported under sub. (2).

History: 1987 a. 333; 1989 a. 31, 290; 1993 a. 16, 223, 399, 491; 1995 a. 27 s. 9145 (1); 1997 a. 27; 2015 a. 55; 2023 a. 20.

But can the Common Council really remove members of the MPS Board? It’s a plausible argument.

Here’s what the statutes say as per the Legislative Counsel:

Village elected officials may be removed for continued physical inability to perform the duties of office or for gross neglect of duty by a majority vote of the village board. Additionally, any municipal officer (including city and village officials), elected sanitary district officer, school district officer, or technical college district officer may be removed “for cause” by the county circuit court. [ss. 17.12 (1) (a), 17.13 (2) and (3), Stats.] Removals “for cause” must be for inefficiency, neglect of duty, official misconduct, or malfeasance in office. [ss. 17.001, 17.09 (1) and (2), and 17.14 (2), Stats.]

So maybe everyone, including the press, should pay a little more attention to what a City of Milwaukee Common Council member has to say regarding MPS?

As a WPR reporter, Hess should have a greater appreciation for the law that governs MPS, and for taxpayers.

According to WPR’s own data, over a five-year period, the State of Wisconsin is far and away the single largest donor to Wisconsin Public Radio. Between direct funding and monies allocated through the University of Wisconsin, taxpayer assistance accounts for more than a quarter of its operating budget. As for the rest, WPR has to spend about 26 cents to raise each dollar from individual and business sponsors, which combined account for 53 percent of their budget in the same period.

All the information above was pieced together after less than a half hour of research. The ties between MPS and the City of Milwaukee are not a secret, and are easily discovered by anyone. You don’t have to be the education reporter for the State of Wisconsin’s news service to know this, but one would think the education reporter for the State of Wisconsin’s news service would know this.

Fraley is the owner of Edge Messaging, a strategic communication firm. He’s a former legislative and congressional staffer and a public high school graduate who has worked in the education reform movement for more than 30 years. His opinions and words expressed here are his own and are not those of any current or past clients or employers.