Milwaukee schools superintendent proposes $12M for air conditioning
Most Milwaukee Public Schools classrooms still don't have air conditioning and last week, extreme heat forced the district to cancel class on just the second day of school.
Now Superintendent Brenda Cassellius wants that to change. She's including roughly $12 million in her fall budget proposal to bring AC to every MPS classroom, plus air quality sensors to track temperature, CO2, and particulates in the air.
The numbers behind the problem:
74% of MPS classrooms have no air conditioning
That number jumps to 85% for elementary classrooms
The district is also carrying a $50 million budget deficit and a $430 million maintenance backlog
The proposal is notably cheaper than a similar 2021 plan, which would have cost $140 million to cool just 28 schools, a plan the board ultimately voted down.
Read the full story for Cassellius's take on the district's finances and City Forward Collective's response to years of delayed maintenance decisions.