Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is grappling with a facilities crisis decade in the making. With school buildings maintenance has been long ignored, the district now reports more than $265 million in deferred maintenance—costs largely borne by taxpayers.

According to MPS’ 2024 facilities inventory submitted to the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, the district currently owns 140 buildings. On average, each of these properties requires nearly $1.9 million in maintenance. However, the distribution is far from uniform. Eight schools reported no maintenance backlog, while seven schools each exceeded $5 million in deferred repairs. The Milwaukee High School of the Arts tops the list with $10.36 million in needed fixes.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel created a database to search the deferred maintenance on any MPS school. You can view this search tool here.

Among the most alarming findings are unresolved lead paint hazards at seven schools, revealing systemic failures in facility oversight. These health and safety concerns are especially troubling given that MPS has seen a dramatic decline in student enrollment—nearly 30,000 students lost in under two decades—yet has failed to offload or consolidate enough of its properties to match the shrinking student body. 

Despite repeated calls for efficiency, MPS continues to maintain one of the largest and oldest school facility portfolios in the state. Unlike any other Wisconsin district, MPS is legally required to submit an annual building inventory to state authorities—a mandate for first class cities intended to provide transparency into how public funds are managed.

The data raise serious questions: Why is the district maintaining so many underused and deteriorating buildings? And how long can taxpayers be expected to fund a system unable or unwilling to scale to its current needs?

As Milwaukee faces tough decisions on the future of its public schools, parents, legislators, and residents alike are left wondering whether MPS can reverse course—or if more years of costly neglect lie ahead.