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Milwaukee Public Schools is recouping its final state payment that was frozen over the district’s failure to complete financial audits on time, MPS officials said.
It’s been 20 months since state officials shared publicly that MPS was severely behind on completing required financial reports – a revelation that led to the resignations of top officials including then-Superintendent Keith Posley.
Since then, district officials have been playing catch-up on their late reporting schedule while redesigning their accounting systems to streamline the process.
When the problem came to light in 2024, the state Department of Public Instruction withheld a $16.6 million special education payment to MPS until the district could complete its late reports. MPS recouped that payment in August of 2025, but at that point, DPI had withheld two additional payments over more late financial reports.
As of Jan. 16, MPS officials said MPS was receiving the last payment withheld from the district: an $8 million payment for achievement gap reduction, which had been withheld because the district was late on financial reports from the 2023-24 school year.
Throughout the withholding, district officials said they had enough cash flow to prevent any suspension of programs.
In a statement, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said she was proud of the district’s progress since she was hired as superintendent last March.
“Since arriving in Milwaukee in March, my focus has been on improving the operation of our district so that we can meet the needs and expectations of our students, families, and staff while we also rebuild the trust and transparency they deserve,” Cassellius said in a statement. “I’m proud of the team here at MPS who committed to fixing these significant issues with a sense of determination and Milwaukee pride while facing intense public pressure and scrutiny.”
Cassellius has taken a hands-on role in rebuilding and pushing the finance office to improve operations, moving the staff into her own office suite at times to supervise their work. She also enlisted outside consultants to work with staff on new accounting systems.
A test of their success was the completion of the most recent audit of the 2024-25 school year, due to DPI on Dec. 15. MPS reported in December that it was running late on the reports but officials said Jan. 16 that the external audit had been submitted.
It’s not particularly unusual in Wisconsin for school districts to run behind on the Dec. 15 deadline, as DPI typically begins its review of the reports in January.