Wisconsin DPI suspends MPS funding over missing audit, late reporting

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

State officials are withholding aid payments to Milwaukee Public Schools because the district has not submitted financial reports that were due in September.

The state Department of Public Instruction informed the district Thursday that the department was withholding a $16.6 million payment to MPS for special education services.

District officials, who were warned that this suspension could occur if they did not submit their late reports, said the lack of funding would not affect staffing, hiring or other operations. DPI officials said the district would be able to recover the funds after submitting its late reports.

Jilly Gokalgandhi, vice president of the Milwaukee school board, said there would be no “cash flow issue.”

DPI warned it could still suspend general aid payments on June 17 if the district does not have a DPI-approved corrective action plan in place.

Milwaukee school board members said Wednesday that they submitted a draft correction plan to DPI on Wednesday. Gokalgandhi said Thursday that the DPI had provided feedback on the draft plan and the MPS was working on revisions.

DPI communications manager Chris Bucher said in a statement that the department would continue to work with MPS on this plan and was “optimistic” that a plan would be in place in time for the district to receive its payment general assistance on June 17. release payment for special education, Bucher said.

“We knew this was going to happen,” Gokalgandhi said. “This is not a surprise and we are working on our corrective action plan which we will finalize.”

After months of meetings with MPS administrators over the late submission of their reports, the DPI spoke directly to the Milwaukee school board on May 24 to inform them that the district's funding was at risk if the district did not not submit the reports.

The district has not yet returned its annual audit for the 2022-23 school year, which is being conducted by Baker Tilly. District officials have provided little information about why this audit was delayed. After the district's previous audit was submitted late, the district's financial director said understaffing was a problem.

The district controller who worked on the district's financial statements, Alfredo Balmaseda, said he was fired Tuesday. He also said staff turnover and vacancies in the finance office were a problem, in addition to a broken accounting system. The district did not respond this week to questions about the accounting system or current vacancies in the finance office.

Lina Portman

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