of freedom finally reached their weary but ready ears.
>> The center for Black Excellence continues to raise
funds to help pay for staff operations and programs. It's
expected to open by the end of next year. In other news,
outside auditors have until Monday to submit proposals
taking a fine tooth comb to Milwaukee Public Schools
financial manager sent a separate audit ordered by
Governor Tony Evers, will examine the district's
instructional practices and the audits are on a fast track after
financial scandal rocked Mnps earlier this month, resulting in
the resignation of its superintendent. The loss of
millions of dollars in withheld aid over missing financial data
and a chorus of naysayers even calling to dissolve the district
. Milwaukee Democrat Chris Senate Education Committee and
is an NPS parent. He's here with his thoughts on this mess. And,
Senator, thanks very much for being here.
Frederica. So you support MPs and send your children there.
>> But how shocking was all of this for you?
>> Yeah, I mean, it was a surprise, when we got our first
call, right before the memorial Day weekend, that there was
reports that had not been adjusted for audits, going back
months, and that there had been a problem in communicating
between DPI and the administrators at Milwaukee
Public Schools and that that was going to result in the delayed
aid payments for special education reimbursement and
possibly larger, so, yeah, I was surprised as, as everybody about
this, especially given the implications.
constituents this week offered a lesson in kind of how this went
down. First, you dipped back into history explaining how in
the 1990s, the business office at NPS was consolidated into the
superintendents office. How in your mind did that pave the way
for what's happening now? >> Yeah. So bac, originally as
it had been functioning, it was divided, so you had the
superintendent who was in charge of instructional, management,
and then you had the financial side that was governed by the
board. Howard Fuller, who is the superintendent of NPS at the
time, asked for the power to shift from the board over to
have it completely under the superintendent, there needed to
be a state law change. They went to the state legislature and the
governor who made that change in the budget and then shortly
thereafter, the school board consolidated those powers under
the superintend audit. What they did is they eliminated financial
, check of making sure that what was happening over there was
going to be checked not just by the superintendent, but by the
school board. So since then, they've only been able to trust
whatever the superintendents office is saying because the
financial manager is over on that side.
>> So you also point out that the district's finance office
has been critically understaffed, resulting in these
failures. >> Whose fault is that?
>> Yeah, I mean, look, they are down 12 positions, two key ones
by their, their own definition on that is something that the
school board actually asked about in a meeting back in
December, about staffing issues, because trying to make sure that
they were staffed up, was a priority for them, the
superintendent's office said point blank that they were
staffed up and that they were only short two, so they tried to
the best of their ability. The school board tried to make sure
that these positions were filled and that things were being done
in a proper way, but again, if you don't have a proper check,
you don't actually know what's going on. And I would add, I
think it's worth noting that I think, you know, for viewers, a
lot of times they view all elected officials as being on
the same plane. But for school board members in Milwaukee, much
part time, mostly volunteer positions where they are each
paid less than $20,000, which, to put it in perspective, people
working minimum wage job, make just about that for the number
of hours that they're putting in, all of them have full time
jobs beyond this. And so their ability to be able to do their
own financial research is, is fairly limited. They do not have
staff as legislators do, as other people in other offices
do. So they can ask the questions, but they're really at
the mercy of the superintendent, his office, and what they're
going to present to them. >> And so you're suggesting that
there surprise in this information is kind of not their
own fault? >> Well, I would say, look, if
you want to have a professional board, of people who are
governing the largest school district in the state, and this
is a, a budget that is larger than any municipality in the
state of Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, you might want to
have them be in full time positions to do that work. And
there's been a reluctance to elevate them that to that level,
but you would avoid a lot of these problems, right?
>> So you, you take issue, though, with people who malign
the district or call for its dissolution, but is this not an
outrage that hurts the students? Some of our most vulnerable
students, the most? >> Yeah, I mean, indeed. And I
am frustrated as well. But I think it's better to put the
frustration right where it belongs. And I would put that at
the state, not at the school board level. There has been a
malicious and deliberate underfunding of public education
in our state for decades, you can mark on a, on a chart that
15 years ago on a per pupil basis, students were worth more
than they are today. They they are not even keeping pace with
inflation. And so to expect better outcomes, especially for
kids in public school, many of whom are homeless, many of whom
are, malnourished and have other needs. And if we're not funding
those underlying problems, funding solutions to those,
well, we're going to get these exact same results. So it's a
little disingenuous to try and go to the same people who have
been carving up MPs and attacking it for years and
asking them what they think we should be doing. It's kind of
like a cow asking the butcher how to be able to live a long
life. life.