Milwaukee lawmaker calls for MPS investigation after superintendent’s resignation

(The Center Square) – One Milwaukee lawmaker says the resignation from Milwaukee Public Schools’ superintendent isn’t enough and is not the end of the story about MPS’ failures.

State Rep. LaKeisha Myers, D-Milwaukee, called for a wide-ranging investigation into the city’s school district, and the late reports that could cost Milwaukee schools tens of millions of dollars.

“We have reached a day of reckoning for Milwaukee Public Schools,” Myers said in a statement. “This was a multi-level failure of epic proportion that was allowed to occur over many years. There is blame to be shared by MPS Chief Financial Officer Martha Kreitzman, the Milwaukee Public Schools Board of directors and the Wisconsin Department of Public instruction.”

Myers, a former educator with the Milwaukee Public Schools, said she’s reached out to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General to ask for a formal investigation.

“I am currently researching legislation to impose new guidelines on the Department of Public Instruction with regard to district fiscal data and reporting requirements to school boards. While the latest news of fiscal mismanagement and loss of federal Head Start funding were appalling, so has been the treatment of Milwaukee taxpayers, who were hoodwinked into passing a $252 million dollar referendum using inaccurate information,” Myers added.

Myers is one of many critics of MPS and how it handled the news that the district has yet to file reports with the state from as far back as last school year. If those reports are not filed soon, DPI has said it will withhold both general state aid and special education funding.

Myer’s “hoodwinked” comments come on the same day that Milwaukee schools released the details of Superintendent Keith Posley’s resignation agreement.

That deal will pay Posley $160,000 in a lump sum payment in July. Posley will also receive a $38,500 payment into his retirement plan from MPS, and he will be allowed to stay on the district’s health insurance plan for up to six months,

Posley’s resignation agreement also includes a clause that states Posley’s resignation is not an “acknowledgment or admission by the Board or Dr. Posley of any liability or wrongdoing whatsoever under federal, state or local law.”

MPS leaders have been silent since Posley’s resignation morning.