The Milwaukee Board of School Directors approved a $1.6 billion budget for the Milwaukee Public Schools district for the 2026-27 school year in a meeting Thursday evening.
The board voted 8-1 on a plan that addresses a $46 million structural deficit while adding classroom staff and reducing administrative positions. The budget, presented earlier this year by MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, reduces overall expenditures by about $23.2 million while projecting revenue of approximately $1.61 billion, a decline tied largely to falling enrollment.
The budget adds the equivalent of about 159 classroom teaching positions, bringing the total to 3,255, along with roughly 140 paraprofessional positions and smaller increases in librarians, children’s health assistants, and art, music and physical education teachers. It also provides a 2.63% cost-of-living adjustment for staff, phased as a 1.5% increase in July and 1.13% in January, plus steps and lanes for experience.
To balance the budget, the district plans to eliminate the equivalent of about 260 non-classroom positions, including 53 central office employees and 44 assistant principal positions after restoring nine in response to community input. The staffing reductions are projected to save about $29.5 million. Additional savings come from a $46 million cut in purchased services, including vendor contracts, and shifts of resources from central office to schools totaling $18.2 million.
“We had to make very tough decisions that have impacted talented colleagues that we respect and care for,” Cassellius said in a news release praising the budget’s approval. “At the same time, we have an obligation to our students, their families, and the taxpayers of Milwaukee to use these resources in a way that will take MPS in a direction that is sustainable and effective.”
MPS enrollment is projected to decline by more than 4,000 students this year, which will lead to a decrease in state aid. Officials plan to update the budget in October after final enrollment figures and state funding are confirmed. District leaders have warned of longer-term pressures, including a potential $400 million deficit in five years without additional revenue or spending changes.
