This morning, 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. Alderman Spiker was joined at the conference by Angela Harris, an MPS teacher and chair of the Black Educators Caucus of MKE.
This is his statement:
I call on the members of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors (i.e., the MPS School Board) to do one of two things:
Be honest with the people or resign.
As things stand, there has been no meaningful opportunity for public commentary on the (former!) superintendent’s proposed budget for 2024/25 since the news about MPS’s financial disarray became a matter of public record and public knowledge.
Despite that fact, the Board has scheduled a special meeting on Thursday to take action on that budget with NO public commentary allowed. You heard that right: zero, nada, zilch.
That decision is outrageous; it cannot stand.
Government that is not transparent, that doesn’t share the facts with the people, that doesn’t take their considered viewpoints into account in its deliberations, that is unresponsive to their wishes and unaccountable to their demands—that sort of government can be summed up in one word: undemocratic.
That’s not a government; it’s an impediment.
Therefore, I call on the Board of Directors to change course while there is still time. Re-release the agenda for Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. meeting at Central Services (5225 W. Vliet St.) and add to it an opportunity for public commentary. Do this, or step down with honor rather than being part of an undemocratic attempt to thwart the will of the electorate that put you there and to whom you are ultimately accountable.
If the Board refuses to honor this eminently reasonable request immediately, I would encourage the taxpayers of Milwaukee to contact their elected representatives to demand that they do so.
(How? By calling 414-475-8284 and asking to speak to your director(s) and by emailing them at
[email protected]. Oddly enough, none of the directors except Director Zombor have an office number or email specific to them listed on their website…or anywhere else that I can find. Democracy in action? I think not!).
If a new agenda with breathing room for substantial public discourse and commentary on the proposed budget is not released by tomorrow, I would encourage the taxpayers to arrange to attend Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. meeting in the Auditorium at Central Services (5225 W. Vliet St.) in person and peacefully but forcefully demand that their voices be heard. The Board answers to the electorate, not the other way around.
In these uncertain times where the value of democracy is challenged abroad and even here at home, we would do well to embrace it strongly here in Milwaukee…with both arms
.
Shutting out the people will not shut them up. Show up and show out on Thursday. I will be there with you in solidarity and in service.
