MILWAUKEE — The auditorium at the Milwaukee Public School Central offices was full on Monday. The MPS board held a special hearing with items addressing approval of the 2025 budget and the Department of Public Instruction’s letter to MPS surrounding possibly suspending funds due to missing financial reports.
“We believed in you, but we no longer believe in you,” said Maria Penager during her public testimony, a parent of two current MPS high school students
TMJ4 spoke to Penager.
“It's not affecting me personally as a parent,” Penager said. “It's affecting my children. That's why I came out.”
Penager was one of the thousands of people that voted in favor of the $252 Million referendum for MPS earlier this year, she even encouraged her neighbors and friends to do the same. She says if she knew what was going to come out of DPI after the referendum passed, her decision would’ve been different.
"I would have not voted for the referendum, at all,” Penager said.
While Penager was in the majority vote for the referendum, it was a slim margin. 49% of voters voted no to the referendum.
One of those people was Elizabeth Brown, who is the mother of a former MPS student.
“Why would I continue to put money in a system that’s not producing anything,” Brown told TMJ4 when asked why she voted no.
Brown also gave public testimony. In her speech, she called for the jobs of the entire board, along with Superintendent Keith Posley.
“We want you gone, no more playing games,” Said Elizabeth Brown during her public testimony. She’s a concerned parent of a former MPS Student. “Say bye-bye to the bad guy and this whole damn board cause all of yall failed our children.”
As for Penager, she says there is nothing they can do about the referendum now. But as she said in her public testimony, the future is on the ballot.
“Cause when election time comes, you will not have your job,” Penager said.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
