WAUWATOSA, Wis. — School districts across the state are rethinking how they operate and manage finances. The latest is in the Wauwatosa School District.
The Wauwatosa School District recently proposed closing two middle schools and rearranging other programming to help save on costs. Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin spoke with superindendent Demond Means last week to get a breakdown of what this proposal includes.
Right now, the school district said it is facing a nearly $61 million budget shortfall over the next five years. Means said this has to do with the lack of state funding and the district being one of the lowest spending school districts in the state.
The district is also facing looming deferred maintenance costs across the district, totaling up to around $150 million.
The district has created the Tosa 2075 task force to help create a plan and possible solutions for these issues.
A new proposal by the school board called for Whitman Middle School and Longfellow Middle School to close. This would mean integrating those students into elementary and high school locations for education. It would transfer the district to a junior kindergarten through 6th grade model and a 7th grade through 12th grade model.
Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride said while the Mayor’s office and Common Council have no authority over the schools, he’s invested in what comes next.
“As mayor and as an interested resident who is a strong supporter of public schools, I am eager to hear from other residents what they believe would be best for the school district and Wauwatosa’s children going forward," McBride said.
There have been mixed emotions from parents and community members on this topic, following the end of the school year for many. Some parents said this news came as a bit of a shock.
“Everyone was really blindsided by all of these recommendations. CJ Szafir, a Wauwatosa parent said. “What Wauwatosa is proposing is a massive restructuring of the district.”
Szafir has two kids. One of his daughters, Nadia, is going into fourth grade at Underwood STEM, which is also facing the possibility of closure.
Another portion of the Tosa 2075 task force's plan is to offer science technology engineering and math (STEM) courses to all students and not just those at a specialized school. Doing so would also result in the closure of Underwood STEM and cut back on other language programs within the district.
Szafir said his daughter is passionate about her school and even spoke in front of the board to voice her and her family’s concerns.
“Parents still are trying to gather information,” Szafir said. “But, the ones that we are talking to are really really angry. That’s partly because Underwood STEM is a strong part of our community,”
When it comes to the possibility of closing the only two middle schools in the district that are in need of a massive amount of repairs, Wauwatosa mom and PTA president at Washington Elementary School, Katharine Hudson, said she is on board with the idea.
“I’m actually excited by the idea,” Hudson said. “To be honest, I used to teach in New Berlin, which has a really successful K-6, 7-12 model. I really think that 6th graders would thrive staying in our elementary schools.”
Hudson has three boys in elementary school and a newborn. She said with the possibility of two referendums on the way in 2024 and 2026, it’s a time to invest in the future for her kids.
“To me, I think it is an investment in our kids now and in our future and the future of our community,” she said. "I know people are concerned about the tax impact. I really encourage people to look into that.”
Right now, no decisions have been made on the future of the school district but they will soon need to be made by the board and community. There will be a special board meeting next Monday, June 17, at 6 p.m. to vote on putting the referendum on the ballot.