Milwaukee Public Schools is cutting 201 jobs — and our students and school communities will pay the price.

In March 2026, MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced a plan to eliminate roughly 260 positions to close a $46 million budget gap. While district officials say no classroom teachers are being cut, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Fifty-nine assistant principals, nine deans, and dozens of educators who work directly with students every day are losing their jobs. These are the people who know our kids by name — who step in when a student is struggling, keep schools running safely, and hold communities together.

The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association (MTEA) has been clear: there is no transparent strategic plan guiding these cuts. As the union wrote to the school board on April 6, 2026, budget decisions are being made "without a transparent rationale for how resources are prioritized across competing needs." Workers are receiving "excess letters" — notice that their jobs will not exist next school year — without any clear framework explaining why their positions were targeted over others. That is not accountability. That is not a plan. That is 201 people's livelihoods being erased without adequate justification.

Parents are sounding the alarm too. At some schools, assistant principals are being cut simply because enrollment falls below a new 350-student threshold — a blanket rule that ignores schools operating across multiple buildings and the unique needs of different communities. Nadine Digman of MPS Parents 4 a Fair Budget put it plainly: "Our children are not line items. Their support systems are not optional, and our voices are not an afterthought."

We understand MPS faces a real budget crisis. We are not asking the district to ignore its finances. We are asking the Milwaukee School Board to do its job — to stop rubber-stamping the superintendent's agenda and to intervene on behalf of the students, families, and workers who make up this district. The board has the authority to call a special meeting this month, halt these layoffs, and demand a budget process that is transparent, community-driven, and guided by a real strategic plan.

We call on the Milwaukee Board of School Directors to: hold a special meeting in April 2026 to pause the layoffs, direct Superintendent Cassellius to present a transparent strategic plan before any further cuts are made, and ensure that students, families, teachers, and workers have a meaningful seat at the table before any final budget decisions are finalized.