With a judge's Feb. 17 deadline approaching, MPS has an offer on the table for school police
With a judge's Feb. 17 deadline for compliance quickly approaching, Milwaukee Public Schools' board of directors and the city of Milwaukee are still negotiating on an agreement that would fulfill state law. The law requires the district to create a school-based police program.
During a Tuesday night press conference about MPS' newly named superintendent, MPS board member Missy Zombor responded to a reporter's question with details about ongoing negotiations related to school resource officers.
Zombor said MPS has an offer out to the city: for the district to pay for 33% of the cost of the school resource officer program, plus provide training for 25 officers and five alternates.
"(Part of) the shared revenue sales tax deal, the city was the recipient of over $200 million. MPS was not a recipient of that money," Zombor told reporters Tuesday. She said the district had offered to conduct negotiations with the help of a mediator.
Via email, the spokesperson for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Jeff Fleming, said MPS had agreed to maintain confidentiality about the status and terms of the ongoing negotiations about school resource officers.
"It is highly disappointing MPS has broken that promise," Fleming said, declining to provide further details about the negotiations. "The city continues to act in good faith, and it is our hope we can resolve any differences through the mutually agreed upon process."
Fleming also said the city had first offered mediation, not the district.
Since Jan. 1, 2024, MPS has been required by a state law known as Act 12 to ensure 25 police officers are "present" in the district during school hours. MPS' lack of compliance with that law prompted a lawsuit by a district parent and the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
More: Despite MPS missing deadline, debate heats up on police in Milwaukee schools
On Jan. 23, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski ordered that MPS have police in place by Feb. 17. That created a deadline of just over three weeks for MPS and the city to finalize their negotiations.
On Wednesday, Zombor acknowledged that discussions took place about not pursuing media with updates about the negotiations. However, she said that when asked by a reporter during a news conference, she felt it was her responsibility "to answer honestly and transparently."
"We remain committed to continuing the conversation to come to a resolution," she said.
More: In Milwaukee, police respond to thousands of calls to MPS: 'Why do we call the police?'
Act 12 provided no funding to implement the school resource officer program, which is estimated to cost at least $2 million annually. Instead, it required the MPS board and the city to agree to an "apportionment" of the costs.
Deciding who pays for that mandate has been an issue ever since, with the school board and city disagreeing about which party should be responsible.
The issue of school police is tense in Milwaukee: MPS previously cut ties with police in June 2020 amid calls from local activists about over-policing of people of color in the wake of national protests over the murder of George Floyd.
In a statement Wednesday, Gov. Tony Evers said MPS has been working diligently in recent weeks to make progress.
"I'm glad to see this good-faith effort to try and reach consensus. Let's get this done," Evers said.
Cleo Krejci covers K-12 education and workforce development as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information about Report for America, visit jsonline.com/rfa.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee schools make offer to fulfill Act 12 school police law
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