What we know about proposed staff cuts at MPS

After voters approved a referendum April 2 to boost funding for Milwaukee Public Schools, some were surprised a few weeks later to see MPS Superintendent Keith Posley suggest cutting hundreds of staff positions.

District leaders have not granted interview requests about Posley's budget plan ahead of the first public hearing on the budget Tuesday night. Board members plan to vote on the budget at the end of May.

While the referendum measure allows MPS to bring in an additional $140 million for the next school year, the amount is short of the district's total projected budget shortfall: about $200 million.

The shortfall — an issue facing schools across the state — is, in part, because state lawmakers have kept caps on school funding that haven't kept pace with inflation.

It's exacerbated this year by the ending of federal pandemic relief aid, which many districts have used to hire or keep integral staff. MPS projected it would cost about $32 million to absorb those staff into its regular budget — a cost that was included in its $200 million estimated shortfall.

Posley's plan would cut many of those relief-funded positions. MPS Communications Director Nicole Armendariz said any staff members whose jobs are cut would be offered vacant positions in the district. As of February, MPS had about 300 teacher vacancies and more than 300 vacancies in other positions.

Posley's plan also falls short of the district's goal to fill most of its vacant positions. Posley's plan puts about $17 million toward filling vacancies, leaving most of the vacant positions empty.

Here's what we know about the proposed staff cuts.

Nearly 150 teaching positions could be cut

According to budget documents, Posley's plan would cut about 16 school-based teachers and 133 teachers employed through the district's central office.

Armendariz said the cuts would include 130 school support teachers, who mentored teachers and had been paid with grant funding that's being eliminated. Those staff are being offered jobs as classroom teachers, Armendariz said, helping to fill classroom vacancies.

"MPS has taken seriously its commitment to ensure students have access to teachers, and bringing school support teachers back into classrooms is anticipated to help with this," Armendariz said in an email.

The district didn't answer questions about the other teaching positions. Budgets for school-based staff are prepared by principals, who may need to cut positions if their enrollment drops or in order to accommodate staff raises and inflationary costs.

Departments facing major cuts: Black and Latino Male Achievement, Gender Identity and Inclusion, Restorative Practices

MPS' department of Gender Identity and Inclusion, launched in 2021 to support girls of color and LGBTQ+ students, would be gutted under Posley's plan, alongside the district's older department of Black and Latino Male Achievement.

MPS launched the Black and Latino Male Achievement program in 2017 with the intention of boosting attendance rates and reducing suspensions for Black and Latino students. At the time, the district was under federal investigation for punishing students of color more often than white students — often for the same or similar behavior. The disparities have persisted.

The two departments, which would combine into one department under one director instead of two, would shrink from 10 staff to two, budget documents show.

Posley's proposal would also cut 10 out of 18 staff in two other district departments that would be combined into one: Restorative Practices; and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

More: How restorative justice works at a MPS school, a decade in

Armendariz said the cuts are largely due to the end of federal pandemic relief aid.

According to a district report on pandemic aid spending, the district had used the aid to pay for four staff in the Gender and Identity Inclusion department and six staff in the Black and Latino Male Achievement department. The aid also paid for five Restorative Practices staff.

Armendariz said the consolidation of departments would "allow the continuation of school support with little to no interruption of service next year" but didn't provide further explanation.

Other cuts could include paraprofessionals, food service staff, mental health professionals

Posley's budget would cut about 44 educational assistant positions, out of about 1,387. Armendariz said many of those positions are vacant positions for paraprofessionals who provide academic and behavioral support, though she didn't say how many. She said some paraprofessionals have used a district program to become teachers.

Under the plan, the district would also lose positions for nine social workers, three psychologists, 13 school nurses and nine health assistants. Armendariz said some positions were funded by federal pandemic-related funds that are expiring.

Staff in food services could also be cut: about eight managers and 27 assistants. Positions are counted in the budget as full-time equivalents, meaning one position could actually be multiple part-time staff.

Armendariz said 15 of the cut positions in food services represent staff who had been counted twice in this year's budget because they were assistants training to become managers. She said another 7.5 of the cut positions had been tasked with preparing pre-packed lunches. The district has been transitioning from pre-packed meals to school-based production kitchens.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What we know about proposed staff cuts at MPS