Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Public Schools' $252 referendum: What's the district's plan for that money?
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — In less than six weeks, voters will decide whether Milwaukee Public Schools gets another $252 million through a property tax increase. In a one-on-one interview, CBS 58 asked MPS Superintendent Keith Posley how the district will use that money, and how those dollars will improve student performance in a district that currently lags behind many of its big-city peers.
Posley and other MPS officials have said the biggest culprit of the district’s money problems is state aid that hasn’t kept up with inflation. Milwaukee is one of 90 school districts across Wisconsin that are going to referendum this spring.
Milwaukee voters overwhelmingly passed a 2020 referendum that provided $87 million for MPS. Posley said this time around, the funding would allow the district to keep many of the additions the 2020 referendum funded, including expanded music classes at 90 schools, nearly 50 new library staff positions, and upgrades in early childhood classrooms at 62 schools.
“Maintaining what we have,” Posley said. “We’re trying to maintain.”
When asked if passing the referendum on April 2 would ensure the district doesn’t come back in another four years seeking to raise property taxes, Posley pointed to the state Legislature.
“That is a decision the state will have to make around how schools are funded in the state of Wisconsin,” Posley said.
If this referendum passes, property taxes would increase by $324 for a home valued at $150,000. For a home valued at $250,000, it would mean a $540 tax hike.
While state funding accounts for the lion’s share of MPS’ funding, it gets 15% of its funding from the federal government. Most big-city districts are less reliant on federal money, but Milwaukee gets more from Washington than most because of high poverty levels.
30% of MPS students come from families in poverty. Among the 100 biggest districts in the U.S., only five have a higher poverty rate.
District officials say the funding numbers aren’t entirely accurate since about 30% of the district’s federal Title I aid follows voucher students to private schools. That amounts to about 12% of the federal aid MPS receives leaving the district.
Because of the high poverty levels, Posley said that creates a need for more specialized programs in the classroom.
“Tutoring services, one-on-one type of support with young people. How do you manage and build those safety nets around young people for learning?” Posley said. “Those kinds of things takes dollars.”
At Escuela Vieau in the Walker’s Point neighborhood, the 2020 dollars allowed for kindergarten classrooms to be refurbished. That meant new desks and chairs, as well as replacing carpet with refinished hardwood floors. It also allowed the district to hire one more kindergarten teacher.
“It helps with achievement because having a lower student-to-teacher ratio allows teachers to spend more time with individual students,” Marko Radmanovic, the school’s principal, said.
Reversing below average results
Among big-city districts, Milwaukee test results are well below average. Using the National Assessment of Educational Progress, MPS 4th graders’ reading and math scores were at least 20 points worse than the average large district’s results.
For context, 10 points is about the equivalent of one year’s worth of learning. The test result trends show MPS losing ground compared to other large districts. Reading scores were more than 20 points worse than the big-city average in 2022 and 2019. Before that, the gap was 18 points in 2017 and 14 points in 2013.
Poverty correlates strongly with the results, but not entirely. Milwaukee’s results are comparable to Detroit and Baltimore, but Houston and Atlanta had scores much closer to the average large district score despite also having high poverty rates.
Posley maintained MPS was making progress, even if the NAEP results didn’t show it.
“We have made things happen for children on a daily basis, and we are seeing success,” he said. “And I will be the first to tell you that one test does not mean all.”
“Look at classroom assessments, what’s happening throughout the day.”
As MPS asks taxpayers for $252 million in April, I asked Supt. Keith Posley about national testing data (NAEP) that show Milwaukee 4th graders have been scoring worse than the average big city district for more than a decade.
“We have made things happen for children.” pic.twitter.com/W2dZQtky1S
— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) February 23, 2024
Colleston Morgan said he still had questions. Morgan, a Milwaukee native who was a district administrator in New Orleans, now directs the City Forward Collective, which positions itself as an advocate for all Milwaukee students, in both public and private schools.
“We haven’t seen those numbers move at all, and that’s because we haven’t had a plan,” Morgan said.
In July, MPS did launch a new districtwide strategic plan for 2023 through 2028. Some of its milestones are cut and dry, such as aiming to have all students performing at grade level by the end of their school year, starting in 2026-27. For others, it’s not clear how the district plans to measure success; one goal is having students feel “emotionally and physically safe in school.”
“We need to do better by all of our students here in Milwaukee. We think MPS is an important part of that equation,” Morgan said. “But it’s not clear how they’re gonna use these additional resources to improve that academic picture.”
MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man, previously named one of Wisconsin’s Most Wanted, has been sentenced to prison for shooting and killing his cousin in 2020.
In court
What we know:
A Milwaukee County jury found 39-year-old Brandon Gladney guilty of first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firm by a felon earlier this year.
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Judge Michelle Havas sentenced Gladney to 29 years in prison on Friday, April 17. He was granted credit for more than a year’s time served and further sentenced to 14 years of extended supervision.
Arrested in Arizona after years on the run, court records show Gladney has also been ordered to pay the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office more than $1,800 for extradition costs.
Homicide investigation
The backstory:
The shooting happened in May 2020. Investigators said Gladney was captured on video apparently arguing with the victim, his cousin, outside a Milwaukee convenience store near 21st and Meinecke.
“It’s all on video, and it’s devastating for that family,” the marshal on the case told FOX6 when Gladney was profiled on Wisconsin’s Most Wanted. “You have a family member that shot and killed another family member.”
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Prosecutors said Gladney walked away but then returned with a gun pointed directly at the victim and shot him. The victim died from his gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital. Multiple bullet casings were found at the scene.
Gladney went on the run for years. He was arrested in Arizona in January 2023, years after he was charged.
The Source: FOX6 News referenced information from the U.S. Marshals Service, Wisconsin Circuit Court and prior coverage.
Brice Turang slides to home plate to score during a game between the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers on April 17. (Photo by Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MIAMI – Garrett Mitchell went 2 for 4 with three RBIs including a two-run double in the 10th inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Miami Marlins 7-5 on Friday night.
By the numbers:
Miami’s Calvin Faucher (1-2) entered a 4-all game in the 10th and walked Gary Sánchez with Brice Turang on second. Jake Bauers hit a single to load the bases.
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Luis Rengifo reached first on a throwing error by second baseman Xavier Edwards, allowing Turang to score. Mitchell followed with his double.
The Marlins scored one run in the bottom of the 10th when Jakob Marsee came home on Trevor Megill’s wild pitch. Megill settled in for his fourth save.
Coleman Crow, who made his debut on the mound for the Brewers, threw 77 pitches over 5 1/3 innings. He threw four strikeouts, gave up two earned runs and a walk.
The right-hander was 2-0 with a 4.07 ERA in two starts with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. He missed part of the 2023 season and all of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The Brewers scored three runs in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Mitchell hit an RBI single, Bauers scored on a forceout at first and Rengifo scored on a throwing error by catcher Agustín Ramírez.
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Miami’s Otto Lopez hit a triple to center field in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Owen Caissie. Lopez hit a two-run homer in the sixth to pull Miami within 4-3 and Ramírez doubled in the eighth to tie the game at four.
Abner Uribe (1-0) earned his first win of the season, coming on in the ninth inning.
Marlins third baseman Graham Pauley left the game in the seventh inning with right oblique discomfort after spinning out of the way of a pitch.
What’s next:
The Brewers and Marlins continue their 3-game series on Saturday, with Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 4.36 ERA) taking the mound for Milwaukee and Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 2.67) for Miami.
The Source: The Associated Press provided this report.
Michigan wins the national championship over UConn
Michigan beats UConn to win the national championship and we break down how they did it and where both programs go from here.
Loyalty is a word you rarely hear anymore when it comes to college sports.
Amare Hereford is an exception.
The night before he was able to put pen to paper and make his commitment to the UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball team official earlier this week, the Beloit Memorial standout was invited for an on-campus visit with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Hereford did his due diligence. What player wouldn’t have in his position?
“Me being an 18-year-old kid, my first high major [visit], I just decided to go check it out,” Hereford said.
UW put on the full-court press in an attempt to lock down the Wisconsin “Mr. Basketball” finalist.
“They offered me a scholarship,” Hereford said. “It all happened so fast. It was all within a day.”
Hereford went home, processed the situation with his family and came to a decision.
He would honor his commitment to the Panthers, with his signature cementing the deal and UWM announcing the news Thursday, April 16.
“No, it wasn’t really hard to turn down,” Hereford said, referring to UW’s offer. “I love every school and I appreciate every school that reaches out to me. But I’m going to choose a school that I have a great relationship with, with all the coaching staff, and that’s been thinking highly of me and recruited me for the longest time. And that was the Panthers.
“Wisconsin is a great school, of course. But I’m going to the school that has been with me for the longest time.”
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Hereford is a huge addition for a Panthers squad that, like so many other programs due to transfer portal madness, is in the midst of rebuilding its roster for the 2026-2027 season almost from scratch.
“Amare will be a star here at Milwaukee,” coach Bart Lundy said. “He will be a fan favorite from the beginning. He is a complete basketball player but probably has as good of an ability to score as I’ve seen in any high school player. He is a great student and a great worker and completely fits our culture.
“We are so excited that he will represent the city of Milwaukee and the state and especially his hometown of Beloit.”
Indeed, Hereford put the ball through the net for Beloit Memorial at a prodigious rate, averaging 37.5 points per game – tops in the state – as a senior. He finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,493 points in four years.
Hereford also poured in 49 points in his final high school game, a WIAA sectional semifinal loss to Verona last month.
Hereford was tough to guard going to the basket as his 60.7% shooting this past season indicates, but he also shot a terrific 45% from from 3-point range (81 for 180) and capitalized on all the contact he drew to the tune of 83% accuracy at the free-throw line.
More than just a scorer, though, Hereford also finished with team-leading averages of 8.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.9 steals per game.
“My playing style fits the way [the Panthers] play – they get up and down, play fast,” Hereford said. “Coach Lundy said he definitely sees me running [point guard], having the ball in my hands, playing the same way I did in high school, finding teammates, getting to the rim and scoring at all three levels.”
Defense is typically where newcomers experience the biggest growing pains, learning the all-out effort it takes to guard at a high level on every possession.
Hereford, however, indicates he’s more than just a scorer.
“I love playing defense,” he said. “Hitting the gaps, getting steals and different things like that, being active with my hands a lot. I’m definitely looking forward to getting pushed defensively and picking up the ball full court, on-ball pressure in the half court.”
Hereford took his visit to UWM in mid-March, after the season had been completed, but saw enough games on TV to cement his opinion of the challenge ahead.
“The Horizon League is amazing,” he said. “There’s a lot of guards who play the same way I play, like to get up and down, play fast. That’s why I love Coach Lundy and the Panthers and the rest of the staff. They let guys be themselves. They play fast, get up and down, play together as one.
“They let everybody touch the ball and be themselves.”
Before Wisconsin entered the picture, Hereford said he’d narrowed his school choices to UWM and San Diego, where Whitefish Bay Dominican product and former Iowa State assistant JR Blount has taken over as head coach.
Now, Hereford projects as an important piece in the Panthers’ rebuilding process.
“Coach Lundy and the staff, they believe in me heavy. And I just want to prove them right,” Hereford said. “I want them to see that I can come in and make a huge impact right away for the team and in the Horizon League.
“I’m definitely going to come in and compete for my minutes. And obviously, I want to stay there.
“So, definitely looking forward to coming in and earning my spot.”
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