MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) provided an update on the school district’s financial reporting crisis Monday.

MPS is still months behind on submitting key financial data to DPI. It has prompted questions and concerns among Milwaukee taxpayers and families with children in the district.

What You Need To Know

  • In a virtual press conference, both DPI and MPS explained why the process to submit and certify the district’s financial report from 2023 is taking longer than expected

  • Both DPI and MPS confirmed no money was misspent or is missing. However, they did report that MPS is having issues in its finance department, primarily due to not having enough staff

  • It also found MPS needs to bolster employee training and update what it referred to as “bad financial technology” that contributed to challenges

  • Leaders with MPS said they plan to have the 2023 fiscal year reports submitted and certified by Thanksgiving, and financial aid numbers will be released this Wednesday

In a virtual press conference, both DPI and MPS explained why the process to submit and certify the district’s financial report from 2023 is taking longer than expected.

Leaders with MPS took the time the share some of the solutions it has implemented, and the steps it’s taking to submit all the required information and work more efficiently going forward.

Both DPI and MPS confirmed no money was misspent or is missing. However, they did report that MPS is having issues in its finance department, primarily due to not having enough staff.

It also found MPS needs to bolster employee training and update what it referred to as “bad financial technology” that contributed to challenges.

“What we discovered was the former administration did not report in a timely manner,” Eduardo Galvan, interim superintendent of MPS, said. “There were a lot of things that fed into that, whether that was vacancies at upper-level financial positions within the district [or that] we had issues with our reporting systems. Overall, due to those vacancies, and a lack of structural leadership within the finance department, it contributed to that work not being done on time or correctly.”

Leaders with MPS said they are actively hiring to fill vacant positions in the finance department and are working to finalize both the 2023 and 2024 fiscal year reports simultaneously.

“We knew when we went about this work it was complex and going to be a lot of work,” Tricia Collins, assistant state superintendent in the division for finance and management for DPI, said. “So, our daily conversations with leadership, our conversations with the finance teams, we are learning new things. We are finding new things that need to be corrected and improved. We are working to get all that corrected and improved. We are seeing results. Superintendent Galavan and Aycha have been working hard to put in new systems to move it forward and make it better in the future.”

Aycha Sawa is now Milwaukee Public School's Chief Financial Officer and has been in the position for the past few weeks.

Leaders with MPS said they plan to have the 2023 fiscal year reports submitted and certified by Thanksgiving, and financial aid numbers will be released this Wednesday.

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