City Requests Delay for Police in Schools

A Milwaukee Police Department SUV in downtown Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Judge David L. Borowski‘s order to force 25 police officers back into Milwaukee Public Schools buildings could be delayed.

Borowski, on Feb. 17, ended a stalemate by ordering the school district and City of Milwaukee to split the estimated $1.6 million annual cost of returning the officers to schools, in accordance with state law, by Feb. 27 or to face possible contempt rulings.

“It’s a problem in Milwaukee, in Wisconsin, in society, for anyone to think that they’re above the law, and it certainly seems in this case that there’s at least one entity, if not two… that thinks they’re above the law,” Borowski said. “They’re not.”

But the City of Milwaukee, in a relief filing entered Tuesday, says rushing to return the offices would pose a great legal liability.

“The City believes this decision places too much risk on City taxpayers and is counter to the best interests of the City, the individual officers, the school district, and the students and staff of the schools. While we have every confidence that our officers will act lawfully and with distinction when deployed as School Resource Officers, we believe the specific training required by state law is critical to the long term success of this program. Accordingly, the City has asked the Judge for relief from this portion of his order and to delay the deployment of officers until the required training can be performed,” said City Attorney Evan Goyke in a statement.

A special Common Council meeting has been called for Friday to introduce an agreement with MPS, expediting the agreement’s procedural adoption. A special committee will be held Monday and adoption is expected Tuesday during the council’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Police Department has posted the SRO position internally to recruit officers. But, under state statute, the officers must still receive training from the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).

“As result, deploying officers without the statutorily required training violates Section 62.90(8) and opens the City – and hence, city taxpayers – to significant liability,” wrote assistant city attorney Clint Muche in the relief filing.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) sued the district in October on behalf of parent Charlene Abughrin to bring the district into compliance a January 2024 requirement included in the 2023 sales tax legislation, Act 12.

Muche, in his filing, raises the specter that if the district and MPD insert the officers into schools without the required training WILL and Abughrin could sue over the failure to provide the required training. Additionally, Muche argues that federal law exposes the city to larger penalties for failing to train the officers.

“As such, the Court’s Order places the City in an untenable bind between complying with the Court’s direction that officers must be present in schools and the Legislature’s directive that ‘school resource officers’ means law enforcement officers trained by NASRO,” wrote Muche.

“The City remains committed to complying with the law as well as the Judge’s order and will deploy School Resource Officers as quickly as possible and with the required training completed,” said Goyke.

MPS terminated its SRO program in 2020.

Act 12 provided the city with a new 2% sales tax and Milwaukee County with an additional 0.4% sales tax, but MPS did not directly receive increased funding as part of the bipartisan law. It was, however, required by the law to reinstate the SRO program. Buried in Act 12, which triggered the soft closure of the city’s pension system used by MPS administrative employees, is a provision that the city use some of its sales tax proceeds to pay for the growth in the cost of MPS’ underfunded non-teaching employee pensions triggered by a reduction in the assumed rate of return. A report from the City of Milwaukee Employes Retirement System says that provision provides MPS with $4.7 million in 2025.

A hearing on the case is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb 27.