Agenda
Minutes - not yet uploaded as of 9.15

TL;DR

$20 million in cuts and additional closures by SY2028:

• 2 additional school closures
• Examining “non-mandated” programs
• Align staffing ratios and compensation
• Transportation efficiencies
• Reductions in purchased services
• Pursuing additional revenue sources

The scope of these cuts means all students will feel more impact. With school closures, students will once again face the potential of changing schools. Boundaries will change even at schools that aren’t closed. There is not clarity about what are “non-mandated programs” and who will be impacted by that.

This is not unlike the situation in 2017, when it was unknown if a referendum would pass and our finances were dire. The administration proposed just under $9 million of cuts needed (12 million in today’s dollars). Even with the referendum, the district projected a $24.4 million deficit by FY25.

Thrive65 Note

The 2017 administration, under Dr. Goren, provided detail of how they would evaluate cuts and endeavor to minimize disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. They named four categories that would not be included in initial budget cuts:

• Early Childhood - programming, early grade literacy and opportunity gap interventions

• School Climate/Student Supports - mental health, social workers, psychologists, equity training, social emotional learning, maintaining special education caseloads

• Teaching and Learning - reading specialists, ACC, AP’s at Title 1 schools, maintaining ESL teacher/student ratio

• Community Partnerships - maintaining after school programming and summer learning opportunities, and family and community engagement.

It is not clear if the current administration has deemed anything off limits, but they framed these as “priorities that will inform decisions about cuts but our financial reality is that there will be an impact”:

• Prioritize/retain talented educators
• Support our most vulnerable students
• Retain staff who support mental/social emotional needs
• Reduce central office admin
• Avoid short-term borrowing/state takeover
• Ensure students have access to arts, athletics, and extracurriculars
• Small class sizes (they don’t define in the presentation)
• Continuance of magnet programs
• Thoughtfulness about school closures and retaining assets

Ways to weigh in:

We’re hosting an in-person meetup this Sunday, September 20th from 3-4pm at Robert Crown Community Center in the library community room. Join us to discuss how we got here, how we can maintain equitable excellence while making cuts, and empower our community to advocate.

District 65 is hosting three community listening sessions scheduled for next week, all at 6pm:

9/22 @ Chute

9/23 @ Haven

9/24 @ Nichols

Childcare and Spanish interpretation at all three sessions

These 3 sessions are your chance to make your voice heard before the September 28th budget hearing (for the current school year), and the October 13th meeting when the administration presents the details.

Below is a deeper dive into last night’s board meeting. We are still processing the news, and this is a difficult moment for the D65 community. While our needs and priorities may all look slightly different, we share a common goal: a thriving school district for all students. Let’s work together to advocate for a stronger future.

The Details

Dr. Witherspoon and CFO, Eric Miller, walked through a Financial Stability Presentation. The presentation outlined the current state of the district.

They discussed our enrollment decline, which started in 2018 and has not gone up since. Their unofficial enrollment is 5,893 for this year. Note that likely includes all K-5 and middle schools, King Arts, Early Childhood, Park, and Rice.

Our own analysis, based on the district’s data site, is that our K-5 population is 3,247 students and our kindergarten is 17% smaller than our 5th grade, and 22% smaller than our 8th grade. Their occupancy numbers match with what we’ve projected on the site, currently sitting at 66% occupied.

On facilities, they share that $598 million is recommended in repairs/improvements over 50 years. Our own analysis of the master facilities plan from StudioGC shows that $410 million of that was scoped by 2037. The district’s slide shows only 3 of 16 facilities are rated as “good” on the Facility Condition Index. Studio GC reported 7 as “fair”, and the remainder “poor” or “consider replacement”.

On staffing, based on the average of a group of peer districts, administration reported that we have about 25% more certified staff per student, and twice as many non-certified staff per student. That means we have a lot more staff than similar districts do to serve the same number of children.

They also reported that cuts that have been made to admin put us in alignment with peer districts on that front, but the administration indicated there may still be additional cuts to the admin staff as well.

The administration summarized the current financial challenges in this slide:

Their forecast of cash on hand if we do not act for FY28’s budget is a precipitous decline, with a negative bank balance within 4 years.

The Administration’s forecast of cash on hand if we do not act for FY28’s budget is a precipitous decline, with a negative bank balance within 4 years. While specific line items have changed, the savings in one area is met with an unexpected overage somewhere else. The overall trajectory of the projections has been relatively the same as earlier SDRP projections.

It is clear these cuts are necessary to allow our district to envision and manifest a new era for D65, but your voices are vital to the process, especially in these next few weeks of planning. Please consider attending one of the district’s listening sessions next week, and join us on Sunday to explore this news in community.