Recall efforts against four members of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board fails to go to a vote

The Milwaukee Election Commission announced on Aug. 19 that the MPS School Board Recall Collaborative did not collect enough signatures to recall Milwaukee Public Schools Board of School Directors At-Large Representative Missy Zombor. The commission previously announced on Aug. 15 that the collaborative did not collect enough signatures to recall District 1 Representative Marva Herndon, District 2 Representative Erika Siemsen, and District 5 Representative Jilly Gokalgandhi.

To get the recall on the ballot, the collaborative had 60 days to collect signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in the relevant jurisdiction. The collaborative needed to gather 5,137 signatures for Herndon, 6,809 for Siemsen, 7,759 signatures for Gokalgandhi, and 44,177 for Zombor. As of Aug. 21, the commission’s website showed that the group submitted 1,741 signatures for Herndon, 215 for Siemsen, 300 signatures for Gokalgandhi, and 27,531 for Zombor.

In response to the efforts failing to go to a vote, all four members who were subject to the recall spoke to The Milwaukee Sentinel:

• Herndon said, “I know for sure that in my community, I’ve been well-known for many, many years and that is true for some of the other directors as well. People know what we do in the community with our schools and with our students, and I think this is proof.”
• Siemsen said, “Most of the people I talked to at community events or people who have reached out to me directly had concerns but felt that the board was taking action to correct anything that needed to be corrected and felt like the board had been responsible in their response to the situation.”
• Gokalgandhi said she was thankful the commission was able to verify the number of signatures “in such an efficient manner to keep the public abreast.” She also said that she believed in their verification process.
• Zombor said, “We’re gearing up to welcome 68,000 students back to school. This is an exciting and joyful time of year. It’s a time of year of new beginnings, so I’m grateful to continue to serve Milwaukee Public Schools’ students and families.”

One of the collaborative’s organizers, Tamika Johnson, said the group will “persist in pushing for the removal of elected officials who exploit our students and Milwaukee residents.”

According to the collaborative’s website, the group began the effort due to being “increasingly frustrated with the persistent issues plaguing the school system: budget mismanagement, lack of transparency, and ineffective leadership.” Johnson said the collaborative decided to recall Herndon, Siemsen, Gokalgandhi, and Zombor because they believed those four members “played a huge role in deception and not being transparent with the community.”

On May 24, The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction sent a letter to the school board and superintendent, informing them that the state may withhold aid payments to the school district due to overdue financial reports. At the time, some data was over eight months overdue. On June 6, the department sent another letter to the school board and superintendent informing them that the state was temporarily withholding the district’s $16.6 million June 2024 Special Education Aid payment. The department ultimately released the payment after the board agreed to follow a corrective action plan from the department. In light of the department’s letter, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) called for two audits of the school district: an operational audit and an instructional audit.

​​On June 4, the school district parted ways with three school district officials. First, the school board unanimously accepted the resignation of Superintendent Keith P. Posley. Second, the school district’s chief financial officer, Martha Kreitzman, signed a resignation form that day citing retirement as the reason for her resignation. Finally, the school district’s comptroller, Alfredo Balmaseda, said the school district fired him on June 4.

School district voters previously passed a $252 million referendum on April 2, with 51.1% of the vote. The referendum authorized the school district to incrementally increase its annual revenue limit by a total of $252 million over four years and maintain that level thereafter with an estimated property tax increase of $216 per $100,000 of assessed property value. School district voters last passed a referendum for the district in 2020.

Of the 39 states that allow for the recall of elected officials at some level of government, 23 states allow for the recall of school board members. Besides the Milwaukee Public Schools recall, two other school board recall efforts happened in Wisconsin in 2024. The recall effort against Kevin Vodak of the Baraboo School District did not go to a vote. The recall effort in the Raymond School District filed petitions against Gwen Keller and Janell Wise. Keller resigned, and Wise won her recall election, defeating the effort.