Reality Check: The Facts on the MPS Referendum

As the April 2nd referendum approaches, much information about MPS funding and the district’s budget situation has been circulating. Unfortunately, some of this information is misleading or even false — and without a comprehensive plan from the district, its hard to know what’s reality and not.

We believe voters deserve accurate, factual information to make an informed decision at the polls. To that end, we’ve compiled this fact sheet to address some of the most common false claims, and provide reliable data and information about MPS finances and the impacts of this referendum.

We will continue to monitor the public discussion and regularly update this page with additional facts. We aim to ensure that the community has access to truthful, verified information on this critical decision — whatever one’s perspective.

Reality: This $252M referendum will be a PERMANENT 30% increase in the MPS tax levy, making it the largest single portion of city residents’ property taxes — even more than City services like public safety.

• The average homeowner would see a $425 increase in property taxes next year, and the average renter would see a $30–50 per month increase in rent.
• This increase would be PERMANENT — not one time, not only for 4 years. If approved, residents would pay higher taxes beginning next year, and each year going forward.
• The impact of the referendum on property taxes in future years could move up or down based on changes in citywide property value and state aid formulas.

Reality: Thanks to Milwaukee voters, MPS is now better funded on a per-pupil basis than Milwaukee suburban district averages.

• Thanks to Milwaukee voters’ approval of $87M per year in permanent funding increases in 2020, MPS is now funded at or above the level of its suburban peers.

• If this referendum passes, MPS’ funding levels will be the highest in the metro area — in some cases by upwards of $4,000/pupil each year — and nearly the highest in the state.

Reality: Since 2008, MPS’ total per-pupil revenues have kept pace with inflation — even before you factor in an unprecedented influx of $787M in COVID recovery funds since 2020

• Since 2020, MPS has received more than $1.2B in funding, including $787M in COVID recovery funds.
• Additionally, in the current (2023–25) state budget, MPS received an additional $84M in state funding, including a $325 per pupil increase in the district’s revenue limit each year, and additional increases for mental health and other student needs.

Reality: MPS has selectively presented its financial projections, and is likely significantly overstating both the size of its projected budget gap, and the magnitude of cost reductions required to close this gap.

• MPS’ budget projections for next year include $45.1M in unrealistic projected new expenses tied to vacancy reductions, and an additional $32.2M to shift ESSER-funded temporary positions into the district’s ongoing operating budget.
• These two salary items alone account for nearly 40% of the total projected budget gap — and while the district’s accounting makes it difficult to calculate the true number is likely more than half of the gap, once pension and benefits costs for these positions are included.
• Many of these positions have gone unfilled for years, and achieving this level of spending would require the district to go on an unprecedented hiring spree of more than ~500 new staff members in the next 12 months — all while MPS enrollment continues its decades-long declines.

Reality: MPS has experienced annual operating surpluses of more than $50M per year in each of the last three years, and has yet to spend all of the funding or hire for all of the positions it promised before the last referendum in 2020

• Data from MPS, shared with the Wisconsin Policy Forum, indicates that just 265 of the more than 350 referendum-related positions MPS included in its 2024 budget have been filled.
• This means that more than one-quarter (26%) of the positions that it proposed as part of the 2020 referendum remain unfilled, despite four years of increased revenues.
• Due in large part to these vacancies, as well as reduced spending in 2020 and 2021 tied to the district’s extended closure of in-person school options, MPS has produced $50M+ annual operating surpluses in each of the past three years.
• Quoting the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s report: “[This] suggests that district has not yet spent a substantial amount of the dollars generated by the 2020 referendum in each of the past two years, thus raising the question of why it is requesting such a sizable additional inflow beginning in 2025.”

Reality: Student-teacher ratios at MPS schools are at or near historic lows — largely driven not by additional spending, but by the district’s long-term declines in student enrollment

• MPS’s pupil-teacher ratio has now fallen below 14:1 in each year since 2020, as the district’s long-term enrollment declines have accelerated

Graphic source: Wisconsin Policy Forum, https://wispolicyforum.org/research/the-abcs-of-the-2024-mps-referendum/

• While the district’s “teacher” code also includes other types of educators, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum, this ration is “a low enough figure to suggest that there may indeed be room to permanently eliminate some vacant positions without sacrificing the critical goal of maintaining appropriate numbers of teachers” (emphasis added)

Reality: Cuts to programs like art, music, gym, libraries, and resources for post-school success like vocational and technical skills training programs are not inevitable — and shouldn’t be on the table.

• MPS can and should choose to protect these programs, as the resolution authorizing the $87M operating referendum in 2020 specifically dedicated funds for these purposes.
• However, MPS hasn’t provided the public with a plan for how referendum funds will be used, nor the district’s plans for achieving its own stated strategic plan goal of “right-sizing the district”.

Reality: MPS has other choices to address its budget gap — and the district has failed to lay out its options or rationale to Milwaukee’s families and voters.

• For example, MPS has identified 40 district schools as under-enrolled. The district’s own budget documents (p. 3A-4) and consultant reports (p.5) estimate that it spends $20M+ per year on staffing and maintaining these schools
• In addition, the district is proposing to shift a total of $88.1M in ESSER-funded COVID recovery spending into the district’s operating budget, including more than $10M in facilities and technology expenses.