A lot of options are on the table to reduce $1.6 million in operating expenses for the Shawano School District, but closing a school is not one of them, and neither is doing an operational referendum like other school districts in northeast Wisconsin.
Superintendent Kurt Krizan made that vow during a Jan. 15 interview with NEW Media, where he went more in depth on what the district is looking at doing to close the gap before the next budget gets approved in October. The district will seek input through listening sessions scheduled for Jan. 28 and Feb. 2.
One option is looking at reducing the costs of benefits for staff. Krizan said the district wants to provide the best benefits in the area to attract teachers and other officials, but there might be ways to reduce the amount the district pays to provide the benefits.
The district is also reviewing the services it contracts out for and seeing how to reduce costs there, Krizan said, as well as whether there are redundancies with the administration that could be cut out.
Reducing staff is one option, according to Krizan. He noted that current staffing has teacher-to-student ratios below the range the district tries to hold to and believes there may be ways to trim the fat. The current classroom ratios are 18-22 at Hillcrest Primary School, 20-24 for third grade at Olga Brener Intermediate School and 25-30 for fourth grade on up.
“We’re looking at what would it look like if we staffed to those ratios,” Krizan said. “We’ve been running under at some grade levels.”
At the middle and high school levels, the district is also looking at scheduling options. Currently, the district has block scheduling where some classes don’t meet every day, but Krizan said he and other administrators are looking at whether other types of scheduling might improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Program changes are also in the toolbox for the district. Krizan said that doesn’t include eliminating programs but seeing instead if some condensing could save money.
“We offer a lot of programs when it comes to elective areas for students,” he said. “Do we have to scale some of that back? At the middle school, are there certain things that students can take at seventh grade but not eighth grade? When we look at course offerings, instead of offering 12 classes in tech ed, do we save more by offering 10?”
Student supports are also on the table, but Krizan noted that is being seen as a last resort, as reducing interventionists, counselors and other staff could negatively impact learning if students are not helped in a timely fashion.
“The operational and administrative things will have a minimal impact,” Krizan said. “We try to get away from programs and supports as much as we can.”
While reductions are likely, Krizan said the district needs to look at options of generating revenue, as well.
“Are there opportunities for us to look at renewable energy or leasing opportunities or things like that,” he said.
The district has been predicting that drastic steps would need to be taken on the budget for some time, according to Krizan. Shawano has seen a drop in its enrollment numbers since 2017, but the state equalization aid received by the district, which is at least $11,000 per student, has not kept up with inflation, he said.
“As a district, our only option right now, we feel, is to take a look at our expenses and get them more in line with our revenues,” Krizan said.
He noted that four school districts in northeast Wisconsin — Appleton, Menasha, Howard-Suamico and Oshkosh — are going to voters in the spring for an operational referendum that overrides the state-mandated spending caps and allows them to maintain its current funding levels. Krizan said that would not be a responsible thing for Shawano to do until it has looked at all possible cuts.
Although the timeline for approving cuts at the end of February seems short, Krizan said the district has been exploring options since the previous budget was approved in October. He said that looking at what insurance rates would be, along with staff salaries and other shifting expenses, was important to know before starting to cut. Also, taking action in February is necessary because certain things like renewing contracts begin as early as March.
“When we held our annual meeting (in October), we presented a budget with a $1 million deficit,” Krizan said, with the district’s fund balance covering the shortfall.
The school district previously had a $2 million deficit projected in 2022 and suggested, among other things, shuttering Shawano Community Middle School. Then the district discovered that it had a surplus of $2.7 million.
Krizan said that the projected deficit of $1.6 million is not a miscalculation.
“I have control over our expenses, and the 1.6 million gets us back to our revenues were about four years ago, and that puts us in line with what our expenses were at that time,” he said.
The option of closing a school is something the district will not look at until 2031, according to Krizan, a timeline set up two years ago when considering the capital referendum and realizing building a new middle school would have cost more than $55 million.
Krizan said the district is looking into ways to bring back students lost through the open enrollment system, including offering virtual options. He added the district is surveying parents of 4-year-old kindergarten students who enrolled their children in other districts to see what it would take to entice them back. The district is talking with local legislators, he said, as well as working with CESA 8 to lobby the Wisconsin Legislature to change the funding formulas.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
THE NEXT STEP
WHAT: Shawano School District listening sessions
WHEN: 5 p.m. Jan. 28 and Feb. 2
WHERE: Shawano School District Office conference room, 1310 S. Union St., Shawano
