Milwaukee Public Schools plans to add 150 staff to classrooms

Milwaukee Public Schools plans to add about 150 teachers and paraprofessionals to classrooms next school year. 

The positions were announced Monday, one month after MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said she planned to cut about 200 non-classroom staff positions. 

Cassellius said external audits of the district and meetings last summer with parents both highlighted heavy staffing at central office and less resources going into classrooms. 

“I can see with my own eyes how hard it is with so many students in the classroom,” Cassellius said.  “So obviously, with 91 percent of our students not reading on grade level at fourth grade, it is essential that we give our kids a fighting chance where teachers have a reasonable amount of students to teach to read.”

MPS is planning to add 89 licensed classroom teachers, bringing the total number of teaching staff from 3,903 to 3,992, and 63 paraprofessionals to its schools. They will also add five school psychologists. 

The plan is estimated to cost $24.6 million and will be included in the 2026-27 draft budget. 

“Lowering class size is a very strategic move in order to rebalance the district and be responsible with our finances,” Cassellius said. “But it’s also a very important academic decision for us as we meet the needs and listen to teachers and try to make sure that they have what they need so they can be successful in teaching our children to read.”

The investment in staffing comes as MPS works to close a $46 million deficit identified in the district’s 2024–25 budget by external auditors. 

To address the budget deficit and rising costs, MPS is identifying savings wherever possible.

Some of the savings include $30 million from reductions in Central Services and non-classroom positions; $11 million in increased state special education reimbursement funding and $40 million in savings from fewer charter schools. The district also has $47 million in new referendum revenue.

At the same time, MPS anticipates approximately $154 million to $171 million in new expenses, including covering increases in healthcare benefit costs and raises for employees.

Of the 200 positions being eliminated by MPS, 59 are assistant principal positions and 62 “implementer positions,” or educators who have a teaching license but who are not assigned to one classroom. 

Cassellius said all of the people who received “excess letters” can reapply for teaching positions.