This post originally appeared at https://www.badgerinstitute.org/state-representative-calling-for-audit-of-the-milwaukee-public-schools/

Donovan critical of test scores, absenteeism, underutilized buildings, unspent funds and tax hike

State Rep. Bob Donovan is seeking a state audit of the Milwaukee Public Schools and says seniors are already “getting killed” with property taxes that will increase even more if voters approve an MPS-backed April 2 referendum.

MPS is seeking permission to exceed current revenue limits by $252 million. Taxpayers, if a majority of voters approve, would pay an additional:

• $216 per year on a house assessed at $100,000.
• $367 on a home assessed at $170,000, the median price in Milwaukee.
• $864 per year on a house assessed at $400,000.

Donovan penned a March 25 letter to colleagues on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee requesting the audit. 

He pointed out that:

• Only 15.8% of MPS students are proficient in reading; only 11.5% are proficient in Math
• The number of chronically absent students is “staggering.”
• Twenty-one schools use under half of their space
• MPS still hasn’t spent all of the federal COVID funding it received

The audit would investigate, among other things, how funds have been used over the last four fiscal years, how the district manages absenteeism, utilizes school and administrative space and how it managed revenue from a previous referendum.

“I am not about to advise people on how they should vote on this issue,” he said. “But having said that, I do think we have an obligation to get to the bottom of what is happening and, until this audit is complete, I do not think it wise at all to fund MPS at the level they are requesting.”

Performing an audit prior to the April 2 referendum is a practical impossibility.

Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute. Permission to reprint is granted as long as the author and Badger Institute are properly cited.

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