Your MKE Edu News Brief: 06/13/2025

State Budget Focuses on Special Education • Gun Violence Took 24 Youth Lives this School Year • Feds Say They Will Rehire Lead Experts • Teachers Union Walkout • Nationally, Dems Debate School Choice

CFC Policy Brief

In this week’s Corner, CFC Executive Director Colleston Morgan praises the new approach of Superintendent Cassellius’s proposed FY 2026 MPS budget:

“After years of bloated, incomprehensible documents that ran to over 1,000 pages, Superintendent Cassellius delivered something radically different: an accessible summary that's honest and direct about the challenges facing the district.”

1

State Budget Committee Turns to Education Funding

Context: The Wisconsin Legislature must finalize a new state budget by June 30.

CFC previously urged lawmakers to boost special education funding, move away from the flawed reimbursement model, and close per-pupil funding gaps for Milwaukee students in public charter and private choice schools.

Why this matters: On Thursday, the Joint Finance Committee approved $336 million in new K-12 education spending:

• Increased investment in special education: The Joint Finance Committee recommended a $283m increase in response to calls from a broad range of advocates. The additional spending includes both higher reimbursement rates— 37.5% for all special education spending, and full funding of 90% for high-cost services.

• 400 Year Veto Increases: The Joint Finance Committee maintained the $325/pupil increases that the WI Supreme Court recently reaffirmed in upholding Gov Evers’ 400-year veto

• Property tax impact: K12 spending increases are projected to cause the average home’s property taxes to rise by $81 this year and $121 next year, though lawmakers may still act to offset this.

What’s next: The Joint Finance Committee will meet next week to continue crafting the state’s budget. Lawmakers face a June 30 deadline to approve the budget.

Related:

• Public education makes its case Thursday before Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee

• Educators, parents from about 40 Wisconsin K-12 districts have urged lawmakers to increase special ed funding

• CFC Funding Brief: Fair & Equal Per-Pupil Funding

• CFC Policy Brief: The Critical Need for Special Education Reform

• Education advocates push for adequate K-12 funding

2

As School Year Ends, Gun Violence has Claimed 24 Students

Context: After three record-breaking years of homicides, Milwaukee saw declines in 2023 and 2024. But youth gun violence remains a crisis, especially for Black students, and Superintendent Cassellius is calling attention to the loss of life.

Why this matters: 24 Milwaukee students were killed by gun violence this school year, and Superintendent Cassellius noted that there’s not a coordinated effort to stop those homicides from happening:

"I was struck by the frequency of the tragedies, and it appeared that everyone just kind of went on with their day, and I just don't want this to be normalized.”

Relatedly, the new Kids Count report for Wisconsin showed that major racial disparities remain in health outcomes for youth across the state.

What’s next: Cassellius is calling for stronger interventions, including violence interrupters, school-based supports, and gun safety campaigns. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are considering funding crisis response tools like critical incident mapping.

Related:

• Milwaukee superintendent addresses student homicide crisis

• MPS Superintendent: 'Losing children to gun violence is not normal'

• Report: Wisconsin children doing better than most, but racial disparities remain

• In wake of local shootings, lawmakers propose bill for safer tech schools

3

As LaFollette Reopens, Feds Say They Will Rehire CDC Lead Experts

Context: MPS’s lead poisoning crisis, caused by years of inadequate inspections, continues to unfold. Earlier this year, federal staffing cuts at the CDC removed all national support for lead testing. Since then, MPS and the Milwaukee Health Department have been working to fulfill MPS’s Lead Action Plan.

Earlier this week, Senator Tammy Baldwin invited U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy to visit Milwaukee and restore the cut CDC staff positions.

Why this matters: This week, the Health Department cleared LaFollette School to reopen, confirming no students were found to have elevated lead levels tied to the building. It’s the latest step in a long effort to make aging school buildings safe.

On Thursday, Secretary Kennedy said that the federal health agency now plans to rehire hundreds of laid-off employees, including those on the CDC's lead prevention team that assists local health departments. Secretary Kennedy stated he didn't intend to eliminate these workers.

What’s next: MPS and the Health Department aim to eliminate lead hazards in all pre-1978 school buildings by the end of 2025..

Related:

• Sen. Baldwin: RFK should come to Milwaukee to understand the lead crisis

• ‘Come and help us’: Milwaukee parents fire back at Trump administration for denying federal aid

• Sen. Baldwin meets with Milwaukee Public School families impacted by ongoing lead crisis

• Lead concerns in Milwaukee Public Schools; new push for federal help

• Sen. Baldwin hosts round­table dis­cussion with MPS parents on lead hazards

• Health department clears LaFollette School to reopen after addressing lead risks

• CDC to reinstate lead prevention team as Sen. Baldwin calls on Sec. Kennedy to address MPS lead crisis

4

Teachers Union Leads Walkout in Protest of Moving Teachers Back Into Classrooms

Context: In her first months in office, Superintendent Cassellius announced a plan to move 40 teachers from the central office directly into classrooms without teachers.

Why this matters: This week, the teachers' union led a teacher walkout at Riverside University High School to protest the reassignment of central office positions into classrooms in response to teacher shortages. About two dozen teachers walked out.

In response, Superintendent Cassellus pointed to low student achievement scores and teacher vacancies as justifications for the move.

What’s next: The MPS Board will vote on next year’s budget on June 24th. A listening tour hosted by the Superintendent begins June 23 and will run through the summer.

• MPS: Join us for the Superintendent’s Listen and Learn Tour

• MPS teachers resist plan to move specialists back into classroom jobs

• Milwaukee teachers protest superintendent's plan to reassign staff

• MPS superintendent to cut 31 administrative jobs, union pushes back on plan to move 40 teachers out of central office

• What we know about the 162 MPS jobs being cut and restaffed

• MPS: Join us for the Superintendent’s Listen and Learn Tour

5

Dems Debate School Choice Policies

Context: In the Obama era, Democrats and education reformers formed a powerful coalition that delivered student gains and major federal policy wins. Since then, that alliance has frayed, hurting Democrats with key voting blocs, especially families of color who broadly support school choice.

CFC polling and research confirm that Black and Latino families in Milwaukee and across the U.S. overwhelmingly want more educational options.

Why this matters: National group Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is rethinking how private choice tools like Education Savings Accounts fit into its agenda. In a new paper, DFER’s CEO reframed the debate around expanding educational access through “abundance” and family-driven options.

Virginia education leader Andy Rotherham added: “This is America — we like choice. Being on the wrong side of that culturally and politically is not a great place to be.”

A 2024 poll backs that up: 81% of Black and Hispanic voters in swing states, including Wisconsin, supported expanding school choice options beyond local public schools.

DFER CEO Jorge Elorza

What’s next: This debate will continue in states and organizations as Democrats work towards the 2026 midterms and the 2028 Presidential primary.

Related:

• Democratic Debate Over Private School Choice Reveals Post-Election Tensions

• A New Path for Education Reform: DFER's Vision for Abundance

• Should Democrats Become Pro-Voucher/ESA? Plus Pro-(school) choice Fish Porn

• Black and Hispanic Swing State Voters Sound the Alarm: Democrats are Not Focused Enough on Improving K-12 Education

MORE

LOCAL

• Millions for lead paint cleanup, job cuts

• Milwaukee Reading Coalition would use state funds to train teachers in early literacy

• Post from Community: Carmen Schools Celebrate Class of 2025 at annual senior signing day

• MPS to give students a seat on the School Board

• Milwaukee Leaders Slam Trump Administration’s Job Corps Cuts

• Child care costs as much as college. Here is what you need to know about fixes.

• Nearly a quarter of WI college students are single moms. They need child care help.

STATE

• Republicans approve $6M in Youth Apprenticeship Grants for state budget

NATIONAL

• Beloved by K-12 Leaders, The Four-Day School Week Fails to Deliver, Study Finds

• Opinion | What D.C. is proving about teacher salaries

• Big Cuts at the Education Department Stall Civil-Rights Cases

• Artificial Intelligence in Education: Risks, Opportunities and What’s Next

• New Research: Childhood Vaccination Rates Drop Across 1,600 U.S. Counties

• The ways government is stressing out your child’s public school

• Have you seen your child's test scores?