Milwaukee Business Group Creates $500,000 Fund for MPS
Greater Milwaukee Committee supports changes by Superintendent Cassellius.
The Milwaukee Public Schools entrance on June 25, 2024. Margaret Faust/WPR
Milwaukee’s business community announced a more than $500,000 commitment Monday to help its public school district address several recommendations from independent auditors.
The MPS Superintendent Leader Impact Fund is a fundraising effort set up by the Greater Milwaukee Committee.
Contributors and supporters are a combination of corporations and philanthropy, including Bader Philanthropies, Baird, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Herb Kohl Philanthropies, Milwaukee Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Northwestern Mutual, Rockwell Automation, WE Energies and Weyco.
Greater Milwaukee Committee President Joel Brennan said the money will help MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius address what she has identified as the district’s top needs: communications, change management, leadership training, district culture and employee engagement.
Brennan said just days after Cassellius arrived in Milwaukee in March, she met with the business community.
“She set a tone about her accessibility, her sense of urgency on the job and the enormity of the task in front of her,” Brennan said.
In February, before Cassellius arrived, an independent audit commissioned by Gov. Tony Evers found MPS was not adequately supporting student success.
The damning 41-page report outlined a number of internal and external factors at the district that have caused multiple failures, including an “absence of clear vision” and “leadership routinely disempowered to lead.”
The audit focused on MPS’ operations and procedures. A second audit on the district’s instructional policies is expected around Memorial Day.
Evers directed $5.5 million to support both audits in June 2024, after the district failed to submit required financial reports to the state.
The financial scandal led to the resignation of former Superintendent Keith Posley and several staff members.
In response to the first audit, Evers announced the remainder of the audit funds, about $3 million, would be spent to make sure MPS can immediately begin to implement the 29 recommendations in the first audit.
Evers also announced he would include $5 million in his 2025-27 state budget to provide ongoing support to MPS, including future recommendations in the upcoming instructional audit.
Last week, Republicans who run the Legislature removed more than 600 of Evers’ budget recommendations, including the $5 million MPS audit response support.
Also last week, Cassellius announced she was moving teachers who work in the district’s central office into classrooms to help address academic outcomes in the struggling district.
In total, 181 job changes will be created under Cassellius’ plan.
On Monday, Cassellius said she was grateful for the donation and was going to use the money to “drive change from the Governor’s operational audit.”
Cassellius said there won’t be big changes within one year, but she believes once confidence in the schools starts to build, more families will choose Milwaukee Public Schools.
Milwaukee business community donates $500K for MPS to address independent audit findings was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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