By July 2011, the deficient shrunk to $1.4 billion, dropped to $1.2 billion two years later and by 2015 was at $997 million. Part of the credit for the decreases is due to setting aside 5% of anticipated retiree claim costs into a trust every year. That trust held $127 million as of July.
"We still have work to do, but we are headed in the right direction," Dan Chanen, chief human resources officer for the Milwaukee Public Schools, said in a statement.