STEVENS POINT – A 47-member community task force charged by the Stevens Point Area Public School District School Board with helping to develop a long-range facility plan met May 27 for its second of nine planned meetings.
Task force members heard about educational policies and trends and needs related to learning programs offered by the district from Assistant Superintendent Chris Nyman and the district’s current and forecasted financial condition from Mike Kurtz, business manager, in a meeting that stretched about two and a half hours at the Bliss Educational Services Center.
Task force member Victoria Schultz, parent of five current or former students in the district, said the May 27 presentations gave her a lot of confidence that district staff have “a handle on what is happening” and that they are working to balance budgets while still making the district accommodating to district residents’ needs.
“It’s really informative. It would be easy to look at it from a distance and feel differently about it but they’re really giving good information on why,” Schultz told a Stevens Point Journal reporter of Nyman’s and Kurtz’ presentations.
The task force previously heard about enrollment trends across the district and how the district is currently serving over 1,100 fewer students than the low end of its operational capacity from Mark Roffers and Nick Johnson of Madison-based firm MDRoffers Consulting LLC in the task force’s first meeting held on April 29.
Task force members were chosen from a pool of over 90 resident volunteer applicants to represent at least one of three categories including parents with children in the district schools, district residents without children in the district schools, and elementary and secondary school staff plus two School Board members serving in advisory and non-voting roles.
A half dozen or so task force members told a Stevens Point Journal reporter at both meetings that they are impressed by the variety of perspectives represented by the various task force members.
Presentations highlight scope and impact of enrollment declines
Nyman’s presentation offered more detailed information on the impacts of open enrollment policies, class size policies, trends in the state Department of Public Instruction’s annual report cards for the district, standardized test scores, special education services, child care services and home school trends.
One of Nyman’s most notable points was the steady decline of annual 4K enrollment, which saw 482 students enroll in 2022, 423 students in 2023, 407 students in 2024, 375 students in 2025, and, currently, 298 students so far signed up to begin in fall 2026, or a difference of 184 fewer students beginning in the district’s lowest level of instruction in just five years. Students may still enroll into the early weeks of the school year, but Nyman does not expect 4K enrollment to exceed the 2025 count as the population of young people continues to decrease.
Kurtz’ presentation on the district’s current and future finances explained several complex concepts of school funding in Wisconsin including how the state statute-imposed district revenue limits work, how the state’s school choice program on the district’s budget impact property taxes, and why cuts are necessary even after the approval of a $14 million recurring referendum in April 2024.
During his presentation, Kurtz used a cup as a metaphor to describe different aspects of the district’s budget where the size of the cup equaled the district’s budget, which could be bigger or smaller based on revenue limits, but is “filled,” or funded, by different sources including state or federal aid funds or property taxes.
Kurtz explained how the district has continued making about $1 million in cuts annually since the 2023-24 budget as the district continues to receive fewer “per pupil” funds as enrollment declines and other costs, such as employee health insurance and cost of living, continue to rise.
Attendance areas, grade groupings, or entire building purposes may change following planning process
The task force is expected to develop at least one recommendation to the School Board for a long-range facility plan, including short-term (one to four years), mid-term (five to nine years) and long-term (10+ years) benchmarks by the end of its final planned meeting on Dec. 9, according to task force documents.
A few potential aspects of the final recommendations may include things like changes to school building attendance areas, changes to grade groupings, shifts in educational or co-curricular programming as they relate to building usage, building or site upgrades, building or site repurposing, and alternatives for phasing in changes, Roffers explained during the meeting.
Schuyler Pietz, a music teacher at a district elementary school, told a Stevens Point Journal reporter she hopes to hear more of the human aspect in upcoming meetings because student and family needs have noticeably changed in the last 10-15 years during her career as an educator.
“I hope whatever plan we come up with is what is best for students and staff and for our community,” Pietz said. “It’s not just about the money, it’s also about meeting those needs that we have in our district and keeping our district strong.”
Mike Bracco, parent of a young child who is not yet enrolled in the district and another on the way, told a Stevens Point Journal reporter he wanted to be involved “to better prepare the public education system” his kids will soon attend.
Bracco, who is originally from Ohio, said almost all of the information about the district is new to him and that he was impressed by the district’s financial outlook. He said he wanted to be “ahead of the curve” in being involved with the district and was most concerned with how new technologies, such as the various implementations of large language models, or AI, would impact the long-term planning process in regard to staffing, programming or curricula.
When is the next task force meeting?
The task force will continue with monthly meetings through December with the next one scheduled for 6 p.m. June 15 at the Bliss Educational Services Center at 1900 Polk St.
The next meeting will focus on the conditions and suitability for modern learning of the district’s school buildings and task force members will begin to prioritize a range of broad facility options, according to task force documents. The next five meetings through the summer months and into the 2026-27 school year will narrow down the range of planning factors and options before refining details and considering phasing various options into the district’s plan over time.
The task force is scheduled to vote in a meeting on Dec. 9 on a recommendation to the School Board of at least one long-term facilities plan that would be considered by the School Board at subsequent meetings.
More information can be found on the district’s task force information website, at www.pointschools.net/our-district/task-force.
Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Contact him at epfantz@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: School District task force gets crash course in finances, policies
Reporting by Erik Pfantz, Stevens Point Journal / Stevens Point Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
