MILWAUKEE, Wis. — For the last week, we've been covering the financial mess at the Milwaukee Public School District. Throughout our coverage, several viewers have sent in questions for us to ask MPS leaders.
We learned Wednesday after a less than 10-minute press conference, that MPS is continuing its lack of transparency, as they refused to answer several questions from reporters.
On top of that, we found out that MPS' financial mess isn't new.
In an audit from 2022, Baker Tilly, which was hired by MPS, found "material weaknesses" in the district's budgeting. The audit shows the district was deficient in preparing financial statements, budgeting state and federal money, adjusting entries in the budget after issues were identified by the auditors, and had no independent review of financial reports.
That was two years ago.
In May 2023, a Board of Directors meeting shows they were presented with these financial concerns. That means they've known about the financial mishaps.
In December 2023, Baker Tilly laid out a plan for directors to correct these issues.
We now know the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has been telling MPS the same thing.
A public letter sent to the district last week, from DPI, states MPS has continuously failed to report required financial data. However, the records we obtained show the failures date back even further.
In 2021, a district leader wrote a letter to directors as he was resigning from his post. In the letter he writes "The superintendent has allowed the organization to fall into a state of confusion and chaos."
He continues in the letter and said "There is no attention being given to the critical economic issues that the district is facing or will face in the near future."
That near future mentioned by the district leader back in 2021, has now come to fruition.
For the last week, several board members have told us they've been kept in the dark about the district's finances. However, it's clear now, that they have known.
We tried to ask those questions in Wednesday's press conference and were iced out by MPS' spokesperson Nicole Armendariz. She refused to let us ask questions and escorted district leaders into a closed room.
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