MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Friday afternoon, several state lawmakers confirmed to TMJ4 that the Milwaukee Public School district owes the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) tens of millions of dollars.
Lawmakers said they were made aware of the back payments on a conference call Monday.
We talked with Rep. Lakeshia Myers Friday who said she and other colleagues were shocked and embarrassed by MPS' financial mistakes. She said it's time district leaders and the Board of Directors come forward and tell the truth about what's going on.
"Where's the failure," Jenna Rae asked Myers.
"On both ends. The school district had internal control issues and clearly an accounting system that is outdated or didn't work," Myers said.
When it comes to DPI, which is supposed to oversee the district, Myers said their administration knew about the financial discrepancies.
"I think they knew and that they didn't say it in time," Myers added.
Myers said the failure doesn't end there.
"The only people we are failing to hear from are the board of school directors, and that's concerning to me because they're the elected body that has the charge with dealing with the school district," Myers explained.
The board has iced us out too. After a lackluster press conference earlier this week, the board's vice president, Jilly Gokalgandhi, promised more questions would be answered on Friday.
"We're planning on being more in touch with the media than we've ever been, so just give us a little bit of time, and we're going to be in touch with you on Friday," Gokalgandhi said Wednesday.
There was no press conference Friday, no questions answered, just an emailed statement from the board of directors.
So we went to Keith Posley's house instead, since he's acting superintendent for 21 more days.
"Dr. Posley, if you're home, we're here to ask you some questions. State lawmakers are telling us that MPS owes DPI tens of millions of dollars in overpayments," Rae said.
Posley didn't answer the door.
It's over-payments that will impact the entire system.
"The only people who really get the bottom on this are the kids," Rae said to Myers.
"The kids, and that's the saddest piece about all of this because what they no longer have are people who were looking out. Children will suffer, families will suffer," Myers responded.
MPS' Board of Directors sent us a lengthy statement Friday afternoon saying in part:
"We welcome the offer of comptroller and superintendent search assistance from the City of Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. We welcome and encourage the public’s participation in our schools, and we echo the mayor’s call for even greater civic engagement. We absolutely agree that the public should weigh in on the MPS budget."
The Board of Directors meeting that's scheduled for next week, where they plan to talk about the 2024-2025 budget, has no option for public comment.
We did reach out to the office of the Board of Governance for comment on the state over payments, someone told us they would "respond to this inquiry on Monday."
We will continue pushing for answers and transparency.
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