Damakant Jayshi
Wausau School District officials say all options are on the table to tackle a growing deficit that is nearing $3.5 million.
The budget deficit prominently figured during a regular meeting of the Wausau School Board on Monday.
Superintendent Keith Hilts said the district’s revenue limits are tied to its student enrollment, which has been decreasing. The revenue limits are based, in large part, on a three-year rolling average of student enrollment. The other challenge, Hilts said, is that the percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged is fairly high in Wausau, at about 45%.
Deficit numbers presented on Monday reflect current staffing and a 3% salary raise, while $1.2 million is related to positions added in response to the coronavirus pandemic through a federal grant program called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief. The numbers also include a carryover deficit of $716,000 from 2023-24; an additional projected deficit of $1.5 for the 2024-25 school year; and “compounding effects of current budget actions.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction figures, the WSD was allocated over $16.5 million in three rounds of ESSER funds. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in school closures, was severe on students. The funds were meant to recover learning losses.
District officials presented several options to address the funding deficit including staff cuts, limited salary changes, reducing current expenses and other solutions. Additional options could emerge as discussions continue, and no decisions have been made. District officials told the board that their objective was to sound them out about the challenges and seek guidance. The annual budget is not due until October.
“We will bring you options and try to make sure we don’t impact the kids negatively,” Hilts said.
The superintendent pointed to dual challenges of maintaining the financial health of the district and remaining an attractive employer while complying with all state and federal regulations.
District officials, in their presentation, laid out some of the budget assumptions and what could be done to address the shortfall.
Among the potential solutions: Adjust salaries by 1 percent instead of 3 percent, which would eliminate about $1.5 million in expenses. Another option would be to reduce staff by 15-20 full-time equivalent positions, and a combination of efficiencies and reductions while awaiting the results of elementary school footprint changes. The district aims to reduce the number of elementary schools from 13 to eight, and is considering a range of options to achieve that goal.
Unclear is whether staff reduction would result in some course elimination.
Board member Pat McKee asked for school-by-school budgets and said they could examine them before making a decision.
“If you get that school by school, I am confident that we can get there without negatively impacting courses or people that are in front of kids every day,” he said.
Board President James Bouche agreed with the idea of having more information but hinted at some tough decisions ahead.
“As you said and as we said, ‘everything is on the table’,” Bouche said. “I think we need to be aware of the fact that with that $1.2 million, we are going to have a look at the fact that some courses may be affected by that.”
Bouche said declining enrollment is a reality, but the board doesn’t want random departments to lose class sections just because they are trying to cut the deficit. “But at the same time, we have to realize that it could happen,” he said. Some courses may not run this year depending on enrollment, he said. “We will be making some bigger decisions down the road.”
