It has been over a year since the state government ordered Milwaukee Public Schools to return their police officers to the buildings, setting a deadline of January 1, 2024 for implementation.
Almost nine months later, the district has still not implemented the state law. On Thursday evening, those responsible want to inform the public and the school board about the next steps for the first time since February.
When Act 12 passed in June 2023, it focused primarily on increasing funding for Wisconsin’s local governments, but it included a requirement aimed only at MPS: to send at least 25 school resource officers to schools during regular school hours and have them available for before- and after-school events and extracurricular activities “as needed.”
Republican lawmakers who supported the proposal said it would make schools safer and even increase the number of new teachers hired. The bill requires MPS to decide which schools to station police at based on school crime data and to train them in topics such as de-escalation and working with young adults.
But the stance quickly drew criticism from local activists and members of the MPS school board, who said the policy was racist and excessive. The board had previously ended the practice of deploying police officers in schools over concerns that police were being used to discipline students, the majority of whom are black and brown.
The state law does not provide details on what happens if MPS fails to meet the new requirement or is simply late in meeting the deadline.
Act 12 also did not provide any funding—MPS and the City of Milwaukee had to raise the money, agree on a contract, and get it approved by the school board.
Hiring 25 full-time school police officers is expected to cost more than $2 million per year, according to state estimates. That figure is based on a calculation of $84,600 per entry-level school police officer, which includes salary and benefits.
For MPS, the hiring of police officers comes at a difficult time: The district is already the subject of a state audit due to severe financial problems and turnover in key administrative positions, including former Superintendent Keith Posley.
More: One month after the bombshell letter: What we know about how a crisis was quietly brewing at MPS
MPS had previously severed relations with the police due to concerns about discipline
MPS has a long history of having police at its schools. They were first removed in 2016 amid concerns that officers were unnecessarily arresting students who could have been disciplined by the district for their behavior. Then, in 2020, the school board canceled contracts with police officers who patrolled school grounds.
Bill 12 effectively forces MPS to reverse these steps by putting police back into schools.
The district administration last officially informed the public of its plans to respond to Act 12 at a school board meeting on February 29.
During that meeting, Posley said the district’s goal is to work with the Milwaukee Police Department to develop a plan in response to Act 12 that “redefines the previous roles of school police officers in MPS.”
As part of this effort, district officials have toured schools in Washington, D.C. and Georgia to learn about school liaison officer programs “that implement a set of practices designed to improve relationships between students, police, youth and the larger community,” Posley told the board in February.
More: Police are set to return to Milwaukee Public Schools in January, but is bringing police into schools helpful or harmful?
Meeting details
MPS administration will update the public and school board on its next steps during a meeting on Thursday, August 29 at 5:30 p.m.
Anyone can follow the meeting live on YouTube at https://shorturl.at/wg7CM.
The meeting is open to members of the public who wish to attend in person at 5225 W. Vliet St. It will be held in the Donald J. O’Connell Memorial Auditorium in the District’s Central Services Building.
Cleo Krejci is a Report For America corps member who covers higher education, job training and retraining at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information about Report for America, visit jsonline.com/rfa.
