MILWAUKEE — We're getting a look at new numbers from the state that show how much Milwaukee Public Schools will lose next year because it was overpaid in the previous year.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Milwaukee Public Schools misreported its costs to the state last year by about $90 million, and that error will cost the district for the coming school year.
TMJ4 knew MPS would be on the hook for "tens of millions" of dollars in overpayments, but these are the first hard numbers we are seeing from the state.
According to DPI and MPS, the district will get $42.6 million less in general aid for the coming school year.
That will re-pay the state for last year's overpayment. In addition, DPI corrected last year's reporting error.
That lowered the district's payments by another $40 million.
So the combined re-payment to the state, and making this year's numbers correct means MPS will see $81 million less in state aid than last year.
In a statement from MPS, Todd Gray the acting chief financial officer says these numbers are still estimates, and a lot could change between now and October.
However, they are still committed to figuring out the root cause of the financial reporting issues.
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