MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Public Schools have been ordered to implement school resource officers (SROs) into school buildings.
A Milwaukee County Judge issued the ruling on Thursday, Jan. 23, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL). The court ordered 25 SROs to be in place by Feb. 17.
The decision follows a lawsuit filed last year by a mother of an MPS student, who claimed the district violated a state law requiring SROs in Milwaukee schools beginning Jan. 1, 2024.
The law, part of Act 12, mandated the placement of 25 SROs in exchange for allowing Milwaukee to enact a sales tax. However, the law didn’t outline any sort of punishment for MPS missing the deadline.
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According to the press release, if MPS fails to comply by the morning of Feb. 17, the district must appear in court that afternoon at 3 p.m. to explain its non-compliance.
As part of the ruling, the court directed WILL to amend its initial complaint to add the City of Milwaukee to the case. A written order is expected by Monday.
“This is a massive triumph for parents and kids who want to go to school in a safe environment,” WILL Associate Counsel Lauren Greuel said in the press release. “Without this ruling, MPS would have simply continued to ignore the law, and parents like our client would have been left with no options.”
Charlene Abughrin, an MPS parent and WILL client, added, “I am grateful to WILL for bringing this lawsuit. I will sleep better knowing that my child, and others, will be protected once MPS begins to comply with the law.”
TMJ4 spoke with Abughrin in 2024 after the lawsuit was filed. You can watch that story in the video player below:
A spokesperson for Milwaukee Public Schools released the following statement Thursday afternoon:
“As it has all along, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) remains ready to implement a School Resource Officer (SRO) program as soon as officers are made available by the City of Milwaukee. The Court’s decision today ordering the City of Milwaukee to participate in the implementation of the SRO program at MPS is a recognition that the City plays an integral role in implementation of the SRO program. MPS remains committed to working collaboratively with the City to build a sustainable SRO program.”
TMJ4 also reached out to the City of Milwaukee for comment.
A spokesperson for the City of Milwaukee released the following statement:
“The city of Milwaukee is interested in resolving the outstanding issue with MPS about how the cost of the police officers is allocated between the two entities. The law says, ‘The 1st class city school district and the 1st class city shall agree to an apportionment of the costs of meeting the requirements of this subsection.’ In the past, before MPS terminated officers in schools, the cost allocation was MPS paid 5/6ths of the staffing costs for SROs. Right now, that issue is unresolved.”
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