| SEARCH OnWEAC |
|---|
Update Loyal, Greenwood reject merger After nearly two years of debate, the school districts of Loyal and Greenwood won't consolidate. Greenwood voted 736 to 581 and Loyal voted 623 to 378 on Tuesday (November 6, 2007) against the consolidation referendum. The communities studied and worked on the idea of consolidation for about two years, and school leaders say now both districts will be forced to consider reductions and ways to collaborate with other school districts to maintain courses. |
Update Park Falls, Butternut won't join Voters in the Park Falls School District approved consolidation with Butternut on Tuesday (November 6, 2007), but the results in Butternut fell short by five votes. Consolidation can only occur if the majority of voters in both districts favor the merger. Park Falls voted 965 to 389 and Butternut voted 238 to 243. The districts would have merged in 2008. State representatives from the area were poised to initiate legislation that would have allowed the Glidden School District to join the new district in 2009-10. |
Declining enrollments, revenue caps force districts to consider consolidation
A growing number of Wisconsin school districts are on the brink of change, forced to consider ending the educational traditions in their communities as a result of revenue caps, declining enrollments and corresponding reductions in state aid.
Voters in four northern Wisconsin districts will go to the polls November 6th to cast their ballots on consolidation. And even more communities have begun talking about possible mergers in the future.
"Revenue caps have hurt small schools." - Pat Allen, Cornell Teachers EA |
The Butternut and Park Falls boards of education are recommending a merger of their schools by 2008-09, as are the boards of the Loyal and Greenwood school districts.
Only the Lake Holcombe School Board, which had considered merging with the Cornell School District, voted outright to put the brakes on a merger.
“Revenue caps have hurt small schools,” said Pat Allen of the Cornell Teachers Education Association. “There’s no question the small districts are going out of business. I don’t know if Madison recognizes that or not.”
The moves toward consolidation come after years of budget cuts in these small, rural districts with declining enrollments. Since revenue caps were implemented in 1993, these districts have made dramatic cuts to educational programs and student services. Officials now say they can’t make any more cuts without severely impacting the quality of education.
More than one-fourth of superintendents participating in a survey last school year said their school districts are facing such dire financial problems that they have at least considered the possibility of consolidating with other districts or dissolving completely.
Since 1993, revenue caps have pushed |
The 2007 survey was conducted jointly by WEAC and the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators (WASDA). Of those who said their district had considered one or the other, 80% considered consolidation, while 20% have considered dissolution. Under consolidation, two districts mutually consider merging into a single district. Under dissolution, a district simply ceases to exist and surrounding districts are required to divide up the students.
The move toward consolidation opens a myriad of complex issues to be resolved – including those involving staff contracts and school closings, said Gene Degner, Northern Tier UniServ director. A consolidation would require the merging of teacher association contracts, as well as the contracts of support staff associations.
Among the items any school district must consider in consolidation, he noted, are:
Butternut and Park Falls
The Butternut and Park Falls districts began the school year with co-superintendents and a combined administrative team that could oversee the details a potential merger would require.
The Glidden School Board was initially involved in merger discussions but declined to be part of the consolidation, favoring instead a merger in 2009-10. Glidden officials are being kept in the scope of current consolidation talks in case a future merger is sought.
While the districts are planning ahead for the November vote, they are doing so before a formal feasibility study is conducted, said Ginny Bosse, former president of the Park Falls Education Association.
A $30,000 state grant was approved by the Joint Finance Committee in May which, if included in the still-stalled state budget, could be used by the districts to conduct the study this fall, confirmed Fred Schlichting of CESA 12, spokesman for the districts.
“This consolidation plan is predicated on the study being favorable to consolidation,” Schlichting said. “Lots of things can happen before that.”
"There are so many things to consider. " - Ginny Bosse |
Bosse said the uncertainty surrounding consolidation is difficult for members. She said the Park Falls EA last spring sent a letter to the administration and school board urging that the boards conduct the study before going to referendum.
“There are so many things to consider,” Bosse said, noting that union members have been attending school board meetings to make sure they are informed and that their voices are heard. “The unknowns of who is going to even have a job when this is said and done, that’s definitely on people’s minds.”
The Glidden School District last spring received approval from voters to exceed the district’s revenue cap for each of the next three years, giving that district extra time to consider its financial future. The Park Falls School District, however, saw its proposal to exceed the revenue cap defeated. As a result, the board of education was forced to make severe cuts to programs this school year, including the elimination of nearly 20 staff positions and more than a dozen extracurricular and athletic programs.
Loyal and Greenwood
The Loyal and Greenwood school districts completed a joint feasibility study in 2005-06 that recommended consolidation. The study was accepted last May by three joint committees comprised of district staff (including two teachers on each panel), residents and board members, said Janet Wiemann, a speech therapist at Loyal Elementary School.
“If both communities vote yes, the districts will consolidate for the 2008-09 school year,” Wiemann said.
Cornell and Lake Holcombe
Lake Holcombe School Board President Al Dixon said community input and other factors swayed his decision to rule out a merger with the Cornell School District at this time. The Lake Holcombe board voted 4-1 against discussing the merger, taking it off the table for consideration in the November election.
One Lake Holcombe parent summed up her opinion of merger at a public meeting, saying, “Bigger is not better.”
The end of consolidation talks in the Lake Holcombe School District leaves the district to look for other solutions to the financial problems it faces. Dixon said the board would likely come back to voters for support in the form of a referendum to exceed its revenue cap. Lake Holcombe district residents in the past have repeatedly voted down measures to provide more funding for their schools.
The Cornell School District is left considering whether to look for another district with which to merge. The Cornell School District has been considering consolidation for several years. Talks arose between Cornell and Lake Holcombe after consolidation discussions between Cornell and Gilman ended in June, 2006.
Cornell’s incoming kindergarten class is projected to be 40 students in 2009, while Lake Holcombe’s is projected at 33 pupils. Based on current enrollment, Lake Holcombe’s graduating senior class in 2013 is projected to be 28, while Cornell’s would be 25, about 20 fewer students than 2009.
Cornell School District teachers and residents will continue to closely follow the talks about consolidation, knowing that much of their community identity is wrapped around their schools, said Pat Allen, a Cornell High School social studies teacher.
She acknowledged that the uncertainty of which teachers will still have jobs and which community may lose a school makes many fearful of consolidation. “Teachers aren’t a lot different from the general public,” she said, offering her personal perspective on consolidation. “But I think that when you are looking at your school district not surviving, you have to start being open and looking at other options.”
Allen said residents must choose whether to expand what schools offer students through consolidation or operate the same way they always have. Without change, she said, the districts will just continue to fade away.
“My advice to all teachers is to do what you can on behalf of kids to give them as many opportunities as you can, even in small districts,” she said.
Most recent mergers:
|
Other districts talking
There are other districts in the state talking about consolidation and how their communities would be affected. For instance, the Fontana School District, a K-8 district, has begun easing into discussions with nearby districts about possible cost-saving options, including consolidation, sometime in the future. Twelve years ago, Fontana voters approved a measure to consolidate with the neighboring Reek district, but Reek voters were in opposition.
The Janesville School District superintendent recently approached the idea of consolidation during an interview with the Janesville Gazette. Tom Evert said that while no plans are in the works, it may be beneficial to begin looking at the possibility of merging with the much-smaller Milton School District. Milton Superintendent Peg Ekedahl responded cautiously, saying residents embrace their district’s small size.
Jefferson School Board members have also approached the neighboring districts of Lake Mills and Johnson Creek to gauge any interest in studying possible consolidation of two or three high schools into one. Community meetings have been held and the dialogue is ongoing.
The two most recent Wisconsin consolidations were the Wilmot and Trevor grade school districts in 2006 and the Bloomington and West Grant districts in 1995.
Related links:
Park Falls School District details devastating cuts [May 3, 2007]
One in every four districts surveyed has considered consolidation or dissolution [2/28/2007]
Consolidation: A last resort [February 5, 2007]
Posted July 26, 2007; Updated September 6, 2007