MPS does indeed have a larger tax levy than the City of Milwaukee

Milwaukee Public Schools has been making recent headlines as a judge on Feb. 18, 2025, said the school board overseeing MPS and the city of Milwaukee must split the cost of a school police program down the middle and put police in schools with a deadline of Feb. 27, according to a Feb. 19, 2025, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

On deadline day, a judge held the city of Milwaukee in contempt of court for failing to comply with his previous order to have school resource officers in Milwaukee Public Schools by Feb. 27.

Milwaukee Circuit Judge David Borowski stayed that order, however, giving the city until March 15 to get the officers in schools or face a $1,000-per-day fine, according to a Feb. 27, 2025, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news report. 

In the run-up to the earlier court decision, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson discussed his January meeting with GOP legislative leaders at the Capitol during a Jan. 12, 2025, appearance on WISN-12 News "UpFront" program. Johnson spoke of his support for getting 25 Milwaukee police officers back into Milwaukee Public Schools.

"Well, you have to have the funding in order to get the officers," Johnson said. "When you go to a restaurant and you order a meal, the chef doesn't prepare your meal and then pick up the check. That's what MPS is asking. I think that's wrong for taxpayers in the City of Milwaukee, especially given the fact that presently, right now, after the referendum, Milwaukee Public Schools has a larger tax levy than the City of Milwaukee."

The deadline is the latest development in a lawsuit seeking to force the MPS school board and city of Milwaukee to comply with a state law known as Act 12. Since Jan. 1, 2024, the law has required the presence of 25 police officers in MPS during school hours, among other things.

In April, Milwaukee voters narrowly approved a referendum that will increase property taxes to prevent major budget cuts at Milwaukee Public Schools, according to an April 3, 2024 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. 

The referendum was crafted to allow MPS to gain an additional $140 million for the next school year, then ramp up to $252 million annually by the 2027-28 school year, according to the Journal Sentinel report. Without the referendum money, MPS projected that it would face a $200 million budget shortfall in the next school year because of rising costs. Those costs include: inflationary raises for staff, filling vacant positions and retaining staff who were funded by sunsetting pandemic-relief aid.

The mayor’s claim that Milwaukee Public Schools has a larger tax levy than the City of Milwaukee after the referendum, piqued the interest of PolitiFact Wisconsin, so let’s take a look. 

City of Milwaukee responds

When asked to support the mayor’s statement, Jeff Fleming, Johnson’s communications director, 

expanded on the statement. 

"The mayor’s point was, with the school referendum passed last year, MPS has more budgeting flexibility than city government," Fleming said in an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin. "The statement was not offered as a criticism of MPS."

A chart prepared by the office of City of Milwaukee Comptroller Bill Christianson shows the total citywide tax levies for 2023 at $855.5 million and 2024 at $963.7 million, an increase of 12.6%.

A breakdown of the citywide tax levies divided into five units of government:

• Milwaukee Public Schools $320.2 million in 2023; $414.8 million in 2024, increase of 29.5%

• City of Milwaukee $317.7 million in 2023; $324.2 million in 2024, increase of 2.0%

• Milwaukee County $132.1 million in 2023; $136.3 million in 2024, increase of 3.2%

• Sewerage District $51.8 million in 2023; $53.7 million in 2024, increase of 3.7%

• Milwaukee Area Technical College $33.7 million in 2023; $34.7 million in 2024, increase of 3.0%

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Breaking it down into a share of a one dollar bill, here’s how much each entity received in 2024:

• Milwaukee Public Schools, 43 cents

• City of Milwaukee 34 cents

• Milwaukee County 14 cents

• Sewerage District 5 cents

• MATC 4 cents

Economics expert weighs in

Andrew Reschovsky, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in an email, said "the mayor’s statement is true," and attached a table illustrating data that includes property tax revenue of the city government and the Milwaukee Public School District for the years 2000 through 2021. 

The data shows that in 2009 and 2010 and again in 2024 and 2025, school property tax revenue (or levies) exceeded city property tax revenues, Reschovsky said in the email. 

Our ruling

Johnson said, "After the referendum, Milwaukee Public Schools has a larger tax levy than the City of Milwaukee."

Data from the City of Milwaukee Office of the Comptroller shows citywide tax levies divided into five units of government with Milwaukee Public Schools at $320.2 million in 2023; $414.8 million in 2024, an increase of 29.5% and the City of Milwaukee at $317.7 million in 2023; $324.2 million in 2024, an increase of 2.0%. An independent economist backs that up.

For a statement that is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing, our rating is True.