One year and $43M later, Milwaukee Public Schools completes its lead paint cleanup

2025 was a whirlwind for Milwaukee Public Schools. It hired a new superintendent and dealt with flooding right before the start of the school year. But the biggest story was the school district’s multimillion dollar cleanup of toxic lead paint in its classrooms and common spaces.

The project began after a student tested positive for elevated lead levels and the contamination was traced back to the student’s school. That was one year ago in January. WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal is joined by Michael Turza. He’s the interim chief operating officer at MPS, and he’s been at the helm of the lead remediation project.