School board reviews possible budget cuts, moving students
Mark Bowar, an employee at the Prairie du Chien School District, attended the meeting to ask questions about the relocation of grades 6-8. (Steve Van Kooten/Courier Press)
By Steve Van Kooten
At a school district working session on Jan. 6, District Administrator Andy Banasik acknowledged the district’s financial future, saying, “It comes down to when the checkbook doesn’t balance.”
The message from the school district: without an operating referendum, Prairie du Chien is going to have a steep hole to climb out of in a few years
“In four years, we’ll have to cut $11 million,” Banasik said.
Banasik, Bluff View Intermediate School and High School principal Doug Morris and Vicki Waller addressed three facets of the school district’s future options, including moving grades 6 through 8 to the high school, another attempt at a referendum and possible budget cuts the district will undertake to help balance the ledger sheet.
Referendum
Banasik and Waller presented three budgets for a spring operating referendum: a “flat” four-year referendum, a “step-up” referendum or an option without an operating referendum.
Each of the options included additional considerations, such as whether staff received salary increases during the four-year period, health insurance increases and whether the referendum amount would total $4-$8 million over the same timeframe.
The school’s fall referendum asked the public for $10 million over four years starting in the 2025-26 school year.
For health insurance, Waller said the district received a nine-percent increase this year and expects to see an approximately 15 percent increase over the next four years.
She added that many schools are seeing between 20 to 30 percent increases to their health insurance premiums.
The district has also considered freezing salaries for the next four years; however, Banasik said the district may lose employees to other opportunities.
“If I tell our staff that for four years you’re not going to get a salary increase, and [they] can go three miles across to Iowa and start at $50,000, what do you think is going to happen?” He asked the audience.
Banasik previously claimed the district starts teachers at approximately $42,000 per year.
The district has considered differing amounts for a possible spring referendum, focusing on a lower amount to win over more voters. In the fall, the referendum failed by approximately 500 votes.
“That’s still a significant difference,” Higgins, Jr., said. “Twelve percent difference between ‘yes’ versus ‘no,’ and I think we have to take that into account.“
The Board must make a decision to either move forward or not with the referendum at their Jan. 13 meeting to meet the deadline for the April election.
Budget cuts
The Board of Education is considering moving grades 6-8 from Bluff View Elementary to the high school. If the board approves the move, the district will open up space to either move B.A. Kennedy students to Bluff View, expand the area for the Career and Technical Education Center or possibly look at another option, such as leasing part of the building to a third party.
“Whatever the board votes on at this point won’t be voting on the specific plan. It’s just whether or not we’re going to do it. They’ll look at ‘if.’ I’ve got to look at ‘how,’” Morris said.
Morris continues to work on a plan for the proposed move. At the working session, he continued to request community input and said the plan is still evolving.
Community members voiced a myriad of concerns, including space needs for the students’ needs. Morris acknowledged that therapy, counseling, and other district services do not yet have a designated space in the high school.
Morris claims his plan will keep the high school and middle school grades separate through the entire school day, but he also pointed out that breakfast times and before school still pose logistical challenges.
Banasik said the school weighed several options, and staff cuts will be made due to a decreased enrollment.
Staff reductions are not the only budget cuts the district has considered.
“If we don’t pass a referendum, yes, class sizes will increase. We have class sizes in the single digits now. There probably won’t be any more single-digit class sizes in high school anymore,” Banasik said.
Classes with low enrollment may be cut as well.
Other possible cuts include eliminating 4K, moving all support staff to part-time status, closing the B.A. Kennedy building, reducing athletic programs and sports offerings, requiring students to pay for their own AP testing, and reducing bus routes.
The district has looked at reducing one bus route and eliminating in-town bus stops. Banasik said the cost savings might not be worth the effect it has on the community.
“In-town bus routes help us as a district and our families… we do not want to reduce that,” said Banasik.
Closing B.A. Kennedy poses its own problems because there’s the possibility that the school will not be able to sell the property and will have to maintain the building or incur the cost of demolishing the building without any financial gain.
Moving 4K to grade 2 would also require between $5 and $7 million to renovate Bluff View, according to Banasik. In order to complete the renovation, the district would need to request a building referendum from the public in addition to the operating referendum.
The board will vote on whether to move the Bluff View students at the Jan. 13. meeting at 5:30 p.m.
