(This story has been updated to add more information.)
OSHKOSH – Fewer jobs are on the line now.
The Oshkosh Area School District likely won’t have to cut nearly two dozen middle and high school teachers now, having made major revisions to an initial proposal of cutting 70 fulltime positions to address a projected $6 million deficit.
OASD released updated recommended staff reductions, which include keeping its driver’s education program and a mental strength role while restructuring a director position, ahead of the Board of Education’s vote on the final reduction plan Jan. 14.
“We listened to a lot of feedback from community members, from students, from teachers and came up with a revised proposal,” explained OASD Superintendent Bryan Davis in a subsequent press conference.
According to Davis, OASD was able to lower the projected operational deficit by $500,000 to $5.5 million by removing “scheduled staff market adjustments for administrators from the 2026-2027 budget.”
As a result, the district now proposes to cut significantly less elective teacher positions and keep the driver’s education program by looking for a “cost-neutral financial model” while also retaining the Oshkosh West mental strength teaching position.
“If anyone out there is interested in funding our driver’s education, that would be something we would be interested in because the $125,000 a year is something we just can’t afford to lose but we want to continue to provide the service,” Davis said. “We know it is an essential service for many of our families that may be new to the city, new to the country and many of their teenagers serve as the only drivers in the family.”
A previous recommendation to increase the teaching periods from five to six for all middle and high school elective teachers, which would have seen a reduction of approximately 23 FTE positions, has also been scrapped.
The revised proposal no longer calls for the elimination of the director of Community, Engagement and Equity position, instead suggesting the role be restructured to a school-level “Student and Family Engagement Coordinator” that will focus on student engagement.
OASD also recommended moving the job from the central office with no executive team responsibilities.
But the district did move to eliminate the director of technology position in its place while also cutting one of OASD’s elementary school principals.
“As we looked at the amount of money we needed to reduce, we looked at what duties could be done in different places. Then, the director position was a position that rose to the top as part of the revisions,” Davis said.
“We needed to bring back a specialist position that we had for cameras and communications and that has been brought back to help supplement that loss,” he added. “And then there will be some restructuring within that department to be able to cover those duties.”
The district’s initial plan was also to have two principals at Roosevelt Academy to facilitate the school absorbing Shapiro STEM Academy’s entire school body before being faced with the reality of the budget deficit.
OASD’s revised layoffs come following a special Jan. 8 board meeting and massive pushback from community members, teachers, students and the union, who all demonstratively opposed the initial cutbacks at a Dec. 10 board meeting.
It all came in fervent opposition to the district’s plan to eliminate nearly 70 full-time positions, including more than 30 teaching jobs to address the projected deficit.
The breakdown of the initial reductions was as follows:
Now, the amended recommendations seek to address $5.5 million by making cuts as follows:
OASD’s board is set to vote on the final reduction plan Jan. 14 after the scheduled listening session at 5 p.m. The district did not disclose a venue up to press time.
Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@usatodayco.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @justinmarville.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh school district reveals revised reduction plan as vote nears
Reporting by Justin Marville, Oshkosh Northwestern / Oshkosh Northwestern
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