This post originally appeared at https://www.badgerinstitute.org/jagler-mps-could-pay-a-price-for-cop-recalcitrance/

Dem Rep. Clancy says district should ignore its end of officers-for-sales-tax deal

Almost 17 months after the City of Milwaukee cut a $184 million sales tax deal that was supposed to have put police officers back in Milwaukee Public Schools, district officials are holding listening sessions to hear why the whole thing was a bad idea.

MPS’ ongoing resistance to complying with the state’s requirement, according to state Sen. John Jagler, chair of the Senate’s Education Committee, is going to boomerang on the financially strapped district the next time it comes to the Legislature looking for tax money.

“I don’t think they realize the damage they’re causing here,” Jagler, R-Watertown, told the Badger Institute. “Right now, there is very little we can do to force their hand, and they well know it. But how are we supposed to make any bargains with them going forward? I’m not going to be fooled again.”

The district’s Accountability, Finance and Personnel Committee fueled Jagler’s ire when it hosted a parade of speakers Monday night, some of them coached by Leaders Igniting Transformation, an activist group that spearheaded the removal of officers from MPS schools in 2016.

One after another, faculty, current and former students told the committee officers were not wanted or needed in the schools. One speaker, Ryan Clancy, a state Assembly member whose district includes Milwaukee’s east side, went as far as advising the district to ignore the deal.

“Act 12 was written, and this provision was written, in a way that you can, and should, ignore,” Clancy, a Democrat, told the committee. “There are no teeth.”

As the Badger Institute has been reporting since 2022, calls from MPS schools for police support — nearly 800 in fall of 2022 — have been on the rise for the past several semesters. At that time, Mayor Cavalier Johnson indicated that he had been involved in talks to bring the officers back.

Out of those talks came an agreement that would allow the City of Milwaukee beginning this year to levy a 2% sales tax, one the state Department of Revenue estimated would raise $184 million in the first year, Communications Director Jennifer Bacon said.

Legislators who approved the deal added a requirement that MPS put at least 25 officers back in the high schools beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

Nearly 17 months later, MPS still has no timetable for when the officers will return and no agreement with the Milwaukee Police Department about whose budget will carry the estimated $2 million a year to pay for the law enforcement protection.

Several MPS leaders, including Interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan, have been steadfast in opposing making the school district pay for the officers.

Jagler said he has inquired among legislative leaders and doesn’t think there is any leverage to get MPS to act, or to somehow punish the City of Milwaukee, which is levying the sales tax.

Jagler said he’s been taken to task for being “a white guy representing a district 50 miles away and piling on” the students in an urban school district. Those students, he said, deserve the same safe learning environment as every other student in the state his committee oversees.

Judging from conversations with some of the interested parties, Jagler isn’t confident officers will return to the schools any time soon. That, he says, is sending a terrible message to members of the Legislature across the state.

“They’re going to be in for some tough negotiations in the next session,” he said.

Mark Lisheron is the Managing Editor of the Badger Institute.

Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute President Mike Nichols at mike@badgerinstitute.org or 262-389-8239.

var gform;gform||(document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?o():!gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,o):document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,o)},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook(“action”,o,n,r,t)},addFilter:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook(“filter”,o,n,r,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook(“action”,o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook(“filter”,o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,n){gform.removeHook(“action”,o,n)},removeFilter:function(o,n,r){gform.removeHook(“filter”,o,n,r)},addHook:function(o,n,r,t,i){null==gform.hooks[o][n]&&(gform.hooks[o][n]=[]);var e=gform.hooks[o][n];null==i&&(i=n+”_”+e.length),gform.hooks[o][n].push({tag:i,callable:r,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(n,o,r){var t;if(r=Array.prototype.slice.call(r,1),null!=gform.hooks[n][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[n][o]).sort(function(o,n){return o.priority-n.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){“function”!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),”action”==n?t.apply(null,r):r[0]=t.apply(null,r)})),”filter”==n)return r[0]},removeHook:function(o,n,t,i){var r;null!=gform.hooks[o][n]&&(r=(r=gform.hooks[o][n]).filter(function(o,n,r){return!!(null!=i&&i!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][n]=r)}});

/* = 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_wrapper_21’);var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_confirmation_wrapper_21’).length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf(‘gformRedirect(){‘) >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 && ! is_redirect && ! is_confirmation;var mt = parseInt(jQuery(‘html’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + parseInt(jQuery(‘body’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + 100;if(is_form){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).html(form_content.html());if(form_content.hasClass(‘gform_validation_error’)){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).addClass(‘gform_validation_error’);} else {jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).removeClass(‘gform_validation_error’);}setTimeout( function() { /* delay the scroll by 50 milliseconds to fix a bug in chrome */ jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).offset().top – mt); }, 50 );if(window[‘gformInitDatepicker’]) {gformInitDatepicker();}if(window[‘gformInitPriceFields’]) {gformInitPriceFields();}var current_page = jQuery(‘#gform_source_page_number_21’).val();gformInitSpinner( 21, ‘https://e74sq7k37a8.exactdn.com/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/images/spinner.svg’, true );jQuery(document).trigger(‘gform_page_loaded’, [21, current_page]);window[‘gf_submitting_21’] = false;}else if(!is_redirect){var confirmation_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘.GF_AJAX_POSTBACK’).html();if(!confirmation_content){confirmation_content = contents;}jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).replaceWith(confirmation_content);jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery(‘#gf_21’).offset().top – mt);jQuery(document).trigger(‘gform_confirmation_loaded’, [21]);window[‘gf_submitting_21’] = false;wp.a11y.speak(jQuery(‘#gform_confirmation_message_21’).text());}else{jQuery(‘#gform_21’).append(contents);if(window[‘gformRedirect’]) {gformRedirect();}}jQuery(document).trigger(“gform_pre_post_render”, [{ formId: “21”, currentPage: “current_page”, abort: function() { this.preventDefault(); } }]); if (event && event.defaultPrevented) { return; } const gformWrapperDiv = document.getElementById( “gform_wrapper_21” ); if ( gformWrapperDiv ) { const visibilitySpan = document.createElement( “span” ); visibilitySpan.id = “gform_visibility_test_21”; gformWrapperDiv.insertAdjacentElement( “afterend”, visibilitySpan ); } const visibilityTestDiv = document.getElementById( “gform_visibility_test_21” ); let postRenderFired = false; function triggerPostRender() { if ( postRenderFired ) { return; } postRenderFired = true; jQuery( document ).trigger( ‘gform_post_render’, [21, current_page] ); gform.utils.trigger( { event: ‘gform/postRender’, native: false, data: { formId: 21, currentPage: current_page } } ); if ( visibilityTestDiv ) { visibilityTestDiv.parentNode.removeChild( visibilityTestDiv ); } } function debounce( func, wait, immediate ) { var timeout; return function() { var context = this, args = arguments; var later = function() { timeout = null; if ( !immediate ) func.apply( context, args ); }; var callNow = immediate && !timeout; clearTimeout( timeout ); timeout = setTimeout( later, wait ); if ( callNow ) func.apply( context, args ); }; } const debouncedTriggerPostRender = debounce( function() { triggerPostRender(); }, 200 ); if ( visibilityTestDiv && visibilityTestDiv.offsetParent === null ) { const observer = new MutationObserver( ( mutations ) => { mutations.forEach( ( mutation ) => { if ( mutation.type === ‘attributes’ && visibilityTestDiv.offsetParent !== null ) { debouncedTriggerPostRender(); observer.disconnect(); } }); }); observer.observe( document.body, { attributes: true, childList: false, subtree: true, attributeFilter: [ ‘style’, ‘class’ ], }); } else { triggerPostRender(); } } );} );
/* ]]> */

The post Jagler: MPS could pay a price for cop recalcitrance appeared first on Badger Institute.