Gov. Tony Evers ordered the two audits into Milwaukee Public Schools in 2024. Evers meets children at a Dane County child care center in 2023. (Erik Gunn | Wisconsin Examiner)

An audit released Thursday found that Milwaukee Public Schools faces challenges due to declining enrollment, competitive school-choice dynamics, a teacher shortage and staff turnover as well as a “culture of fear” and resistance to change. The district needs to make systemic changes, the audit found, in order to adequately support its students, especially those who are the most vulnerable.

The operational audit was ordered by Gov. Tony Evers after news broke that the district has been excessively late in submitting required financial documents to the Department of Public Instruction. The crisis led to the resignation of Keith Posley as MPS superintendent and the state Department of Public Instruction withholding $16.6 million from the district.

The independent audit, conducted by MGT of America Consulting LLC, is the first of two ordered by Evers,  who formerly served as state superintendent and as a public school teacher. The second, ongoing audit is meant to examine the effectiveness of teaching and instruction in classrooms. 

“This audit is a critical next step for getting MPS back on track and, ultimately, improving outcomes for our kids,” Evers said in a statement. “I urge and expect the district to take these recommendations seriously and move forward quickly with implementing this audit’s findings.”

Evers allocated $5.5 million from federal American Rescue Plan funds for the audits and said there is a remaining $3 million that will go towards ensuring the district can start implementing the recommendations. 

Evers said that he will also propose allocating an additional $5 million in his 2025-27 budget to provide ongoing support to address audit results and implement audit recommendations, though he would need the Republican-led Legislature to allocate the money. The money would only be awarded to the district if the state thinks MPS has made substantial and sufficient progress implementing the audit recommendations. 

“MPS must make systemic changes to ensure that students — particularly the most vulnerable — are at the center of every decision,” auditors wrote. “Ultimately, this work is in service of students, whose future success hinges on a district capable of delivering equitable, high-quality education.”

The audit acknowledged that “proficiency rates sit at just 9% in math and 12% in reading, far below state and national averages, signaling a systemic failure to prioritize student outcomes.” 

The audit identified internal and external factors that have contributed to the challenges the district has faced. 

Internal factors included leadership instability, including a series of superintendents with short tenures and revolving leaders, a “culture of fear and reluctance to change,” high turnover and recruitment challenges, ineffective reporting protocols that have hindered accountability and financial mismanagement, lack of honesty, transparency and ineffective public communications that have contributed to a lack of public trust. 

External factors included stalled population growth and enrollment declines, “competitive school-choice dynamics,” national teacher and staff shortages, MPS students who face significant economic challenges and outdated facilities that have made it difficult to maintain healthy, safe and adequately equipped learning environments.

“These challenges, coupled with outdated facilities and a history of financial mismanagement, have eroded public trust and disproportionately affected the District’s most vulnerable students,” auditors wrote.

The audit laid out goals that the district should prioritize that include creating a “coherent central system,” “fostering meaningful communication and collaboration across departments within the District” and operating and funding strategically by investing in strategies and systems that prepare the District for financial sustainability, operational efficiency and long-term success. 

Some of the specific recommendations include hiring a chief communications officer and chief operations officer, restructuring the central office to clarify roles, investing in the Office of Human Resources, redesigning employee reporting processes, investing in training for the Department of Research, Assessment and Data, continuing to use support offered by DPI and improving collaboration between the MPS Board of Directors and district leadership.

MPS said in a press release that the audit “validates the progress we are making while also serving as a guide for continued improvements.”

“It highlights the strength of our existing systems and the dedication behind key initiatives, reinforcing the steps we have taken to move our students forward. At the same time, it identifies areas for growth, reaffirming our commitment to continuous improvement,” MPS stated. “While acknowledging the need for focused support, the report makes clear that we have an opportunity to build on this momentum, strengthening our schools and communities while creating a more unified path forward.”

DPI Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement that the audit “offers a clear and practical blueprint for getting the district back on course, ensuring it better serves students and families.” 

Underly said she was optimistic that the district would turn the recommendations into “meaningful change” with the leadership of Brenda Cassellius, who was selected this week by the Board to be the new MPS superintendent and previously served as superintendent of Boston Public Schools and commissioner of education in Minnesota.

“This report also underscores the importance of the DPI’s ongoing efforts to support MPS in financial reporting, including the development of a Corrective Action Plan. These efforts are both realistic and essential for helping the district regain compliance and thrive,” Underly said.

Children at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field)

On Jan. 27, the Trump administration called for federal agencies to implement a sweeping freeze on large amounts of grants, loans and other assistance, creating widespread panic across the country — particularly for families dependent on Head Start for child care. More than a week into  the freeze, many of Wisconsin’s Head Start programs still can’t access the funds they need to stay open.

Head Start provides funding to local organizations to run free, comprehensive preschool and early learning programs for families living in poverty. Many of the local organizations, or grantees, running these programs also provide child care services to families who receive child care subsidies and parents who pay for child care without assistance. 

Wisconsin has 39 Head Start providers serving 16,000 children and employing 4,500 staff across the state. Reach Dane’s Head Start program in Madison is one of many Wisconsinites rely on. 

The day after the announcement, Jen Bailey, executive director of the program, said her program and others  were unable to access funds because  their payment management system was shut down. She described the overwhelming chaos and fear that morning as she wondered how to keep this vital service afloat. 

The Trump administration initially said this freeze was necessary to ensure funding aligns with the president’s priorities. Normally, Jen and her staff would have a direct line of communication to the federal Office of Head Start, but when the freeze was announced she described a lack of communication with the federal government — leaving her and her staff to rely on news articles and press conferences to glean any insight into the meaning of the mayhem.

Across Wisconsin, on the first morning of the freeze, parents received emails  from their child care providers warning of potential closures to programs. On Tuesday afternoon,  the Trump administration walked back its initial inclusion of Head Start in the government-wide freeze. But  some programs had already made the decision to close their doors Wednesday — leaving parents scrambling to find potential backups for child care and wondering if they would be able to go to work. Program staff at those centers were also unsure if their next paychecks would be delayed or if they even still had jobs. 

As of Tuesday, Feb. 4, seven providers serving roughly 3,000 children had still not  received funding from the federal government since the freeze went into effect. The National Head Start Association reported that the funding issues are widespread across the country. At least 45 Head Start grantees serving nearly 20,000 young children are still having problems  accessing their funds. 

Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be the last time Wisconsin families dependent on these programs experience uncertainty and even panic under the current administration. The radical far-right playbook Project 2025 proposed eliminating Head Start entirely, which would increase the number of Americans living in a child care desert and particularly harm child care supply in rural communities. If the leaders in the Trump Administration  who helped author Project 2025  had it their way, no Head Start programs would be opening their doors to the vulnerable families in need of services. 

Fifty-four percent of young children under the age of 5 in Wisconsin live in a child care desert, and the high cost of child care pushes 134,000 families across the U.S. into poverty every year. What Wisconsin parents and families need now is to know that their current child care arrangements are secure while policymakers work on solutions to build supply and bring costs down. 

Over a week since the publication of the freeze memo, it’s obvious the stress and harm inflicted on families and providers was created not only thoughtlessly, but needlessly. It’s been hard to keep track of all the walk-backs and attempts at “clarification” from the Trump administration that only sowed more confusion. Most recently, the administration announced it was  rescinding the freeze memo after a judge had blocked the spending freeze. That about-face came  less than 48 hours after the same administration  sent federal programs and the people dependent on them into a tailspin. So what was all the chaos and confusion for? 

The frantically mixed messages from the Trump administration tell us the president and the people working for him  spend very little time thinking through how their actions will affect everyday Americans, especially parents. When you play unnecessary games with trillions of dollars in federal funding that millions of people depend on, real people suffer. We’re barely two weeks into this new administration. How many more threats to their livelihood can Wisconsin families and providers like Jen expect over the next four years?