MPS superintendent says she cut 201 ‘non-classroom’ positions, teacher’s union says that’s not true
By Emily Pofahl
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced cuts to 201 “non-classroom” positions earlier this month as a means to address the district’s $46 million budget deficit.
On Thursday, the union representing MPS educators said the cuts go deeper than that. Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association President Ingrid Walker-Henry called Cassellius’s promise “lies.”
“It’s infuriating because we know how important all of the positions who work with our students are,” Walker-Henry told reporters.
This week, more than 200 employees received letters called “excess notices,” explaining that the district is eliminating their jobs.
“Your position for the 2026-2027 school year has been eliminated, as a result, your last day of employment in your current assignment will be June 30th, 2026,” the letter read.
Cassellius had previously signaled in January that cuts were forthcoming, promising they would be “non-classroom” positions. The 201 cut includes 70 staff from the central office, 62 “implementers” or support and floater teachers, and 59 assistant principals.
Some assistant principals have been working for the district for decades.
The teachers’ union claims that the cuts have impacted essential roles within the schools. Walker-Henry said some of her members, including music and art teachers and paraprofessionals, have also received letters or had their hours reduced. The union did not have an exact number or estimate of their members with classroom roles who are impacted, but Walker-Henry said a music teacher at Vincent High School was among them.
“The most disturbing thing about the superintendent’s lies are the countless paraprofessionals and children’s health assistants that have been told this week that they have either been cut from their school’s budget or their hours have been reduced,” Walker-Henry said.
Cassellius said some of the hourly reductions and cuts to music or art positions are part of adjustments that come every year, and are not part of the 201 cuts the district expects to save $30 million from.
“Typically every year, we see adjustments that are made throughout the district and reductions made throughout the district based on enrollment or based on choice that students are making,” Cassellius said.
Cassellius also confirmed that some educators in the “implementers” category who have teaching licenses and work in classrooms are losing their jobs.
“Change is just hard,” she said. “This is an incredibly challenging place for the district to be in right now with a $46 million deficit.”
The district is in the middle of an audit to ensure compliance with special education support requirements, and anticipates adjusting paraprofessional staffing after the results are released.
Walker-Henry called for the school board’s Office of Accountability and Efficiency to intervene.
“The school board and the office of accountability must step in; they must ensure that this level of dysfunction stops,” she said.
Despite the job eliminations, the district plans to hire for more positions later this spring, allowing laid-off employees to apply internally before public postings. Cassellius said she anticipates adding more than 200 teaching jobs next year as part of the district’s effort to lower class sizes, but emphasized that she’s waiting on more information about needs from school principals before sharing the exact number of positions available.
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