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Clerical errors and reorganization prompt community demand for clarity on bilingual and newcomer services
Summary
Community members, bilingual educators and MPS staff raised concerns at the budget hearing after clerical errors in the published budget summary obscured where bilingual/multilingual staff and services are budgeted. Administration and the budget office said the positions are included in the full line-item budget and pledged clearer documentation.
Multiple community speakers and bilingual educators told the committee that a clerical error in the public draft of the FY26 budget created confusion about whether the district's bilingual and multilingual programs would remain intact.
"In the current version, we are not able to discern where the positions for the department of BMA are located," said Alondra Garcia, a second-grade bilingual teacher and vice president of the Wisconsin Association for Bilingual Education (WEAVE). Maricela Aguilar Monroy, an ESL teacher at the Newcomer Center at South Division, said the error "was so confusing, I was worried we were all gonna be moved out of our school placement." Monica Hubbell, who works in the Lau Center, described the department's role enrolling and assessing students who speak 85 languages and said the office "is not an afterthought" and must be funded and clearly reflected in budget documents.
Administration response and clarifications: Chief Academic Officer Jennifer Mims Howe told the committee the bilingual-multicultural office will be renamed "multicultural, multilingual" and that services for bilingual students, ESL, First Nations students and family-engagement supports will continue. Budget director Nick Synram said the full line-item budget posted online includes all positions and that a "glitch" in the summary documents caused some positions to appear elsewhere in summary sheets. Synram offered to help stakeholders find the specific account codes and to produce a clearer published version.
Newcomer Center and ESL teachers: The budget lists 10 additional ESL classroom teachers; Jennifer Mims Howe and Dr. Cassellius said those positions are temporarily budgeted to the Newcomer Center while the district finalizes school assignments based on fall enrollment counts. Mims Howe said the district will assign positions after finalizing counts and that central budgeting should allow the district to make whole-time positions when equitable.
Community requests: Speakers asked the district to use asset-based language ("English learners" or "multilingual learners" rather than "ESL"), to publish a corrected budget that lists bilingual/multilingual positions with clear allocations, and to commit to keeping the bilingual program as an identifiable department with the same services the community has relied upon. Several asked the board to delay a vote until corrected materials are posted so the public can review line-item allocations.
Ending: The administration pledged to publish more usable budget detail, to assist stakeholders in locating grant and position line items in the full budget file, and to include families and program staff in planning for the renamed multicultural, multilingual office.
