Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A new report says the city of Milwaukee is defying state law by not putting sufficient effort into selling vacant school buildings.
The report, released Friday by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), says Milwaukee is not in compliance with the state’s Surplus Property Law, which requires the city to sell unused Milwaukee Public Schools properties to education operators, private voucher schools and charter schools.
“Our report proves that the vacant school property problem that has plagued Milwaukee for so long remains unsolved,” CJ Szafir, vice president for policy at WILL, said in an interview.
“You have dwindling enrollment at Milwaukee Public Schools that has led to buildings that just sit empty, costing taxpayers money,” Szafir said. “These empty buildings over the course of the last decade have cost Milwaukee taxpayers well over $10.2 million.” More from James Wigderson from Wisconsin Watchdog.org here