Rightsizing & Consolidating Schools in Response to Declining Enrollment

Nearly every school district across Wisconsin is experiencing a similar challenge: declining enrollment. One of the many implications of this trend involves a district’s infrastructure, and district leaders must find ways to manage underutilized facilities. With thoughtful planning, good communication, and help from strong facility planning partners, districts can work with their communities to find the best route forward.

What’s Causing Declining School Enrollment?

Declining school enrollment is not only a Wisconsin trend, but one seen nationally as well. Over the past two decades, the U.S. has seen an overall decline in birth rates: there are simply fewer students now than there were in 2006.^*

As a result, declining enrollment is forcing school districts to rethink the way they use their facilities, particularly if buildings are under capacity or underutilized. When school buildings operate below capacity, districts must pay operational and maintenance costs (the latter of which are often more expensive) that could otherwise be avoided, and resources can be unnecessarily stretched. This results in higher spending per pupil with less educational impact. To address this, districts must develop holistic, cost-effective solutions while continuing to serve their communities well.

What is Rightsizing and How Can It Help?

When it comes to facility planning, rightsizing for school districts means aligning current and future enrollment with the amount of space needed for a school’s educational, co-curricular, and any other needs. Rightsizing looks at data to see how buildings are being utilized, as well as a building’s overall condition. The process of rightsizing helps districts answer what the “right size” of buildings or facilities is for a district population.

Rightsizing educational facilities can:

• improve operational costs and efficiencies

• redirect funds to improve active facilities

• redirect funds to a district’s overall budget (over time)

Rightsizing isn’t solely defined by the closure of buildings, but school consolidation or closure can be a component of it. For other districts, rightsizing may include expanding a district’s spaces for teaching and learning, such as if their enrollment is increasing. In one Wisconsin school district, a facilities solution involved both consolidating schools and building new.

Consolidating Schools for Success: A Case Study

A mid-sized school district was experiencing enrollment levels nearly 20 percent lower than the decade prior. At the same time, the district had recently retired a significant portion of its debt, creating a window to address long-term facility needs without exceeding historical tax rates. District leaders partnered with external experts — including EUA and Findorff as construction manager — to develop a comprehensive, long-range facilities plan.

Driving Decisions with Data

A good first step in facility planning and the potential for rightsizing is to understand a district’s enrollment. This district worked with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Applied Population Lab to assess past, current, and projected future enrollment trends. The results reflected declining population overall, not just the student population. However, the district’s oldest building, an elementary school, is in an area that could accommodate the most growth. This presented an opportunity to not only replace the oldest building, but also to align rightsizing tactics to match a growing area.

It’s worth noting that building a new elementary school in this area had been a point of interest for decades within the community. A referendum in 2009 and 2019 sought to build new, but the question failed both times. In 2023, there was now additional data to support a new elementary school as a potential solution. District buildings were assessed for structural integrity, educational adequacy, capacity, and maintenance costs.

From these findings, a few buildings were identified with the highest needs and, with rightsizing considerations, would make the most sense to close:

• Two elementary schools

• The oldest elementary school, to be replaced with a new one

• The educational service center, which could consolidate into the high school building

• An early education center, which could consolidate into two existing elementary schools

By closing buildings, the district would avoid more than $50 million in deferred maintenance costs over a 15-year period that would otherwise go toward keeping them open and operational. But moving forward with any potential solution would require community support.

Community Outreach and Engagement

As is the case with any potential facilities solution, simply hearing community concerns and priorities isn’t enough. Districts must also take action to address them. The superintendent worked tirelessly with staff, had a presence at all the buildings, and additionally had focused conversations with municipal leaders to get everyone on board.

Ongoing district communications were steady throughout the planning phase and took community feedback into account, and communications efforts expanded even further once a referendum was approved by the Board. The district, EUA, and Findorff enacted several strategies throughout planning to spread awareness and gather feedback:

• District-wide community survey: More than 1,600 respondents provided feedback on their priorities for facilities and if they would support a referendum (and for how much).

• Community & Staff Conversations: Eight sessions engaged both community and staff members at multiple points in the facility planning process.

• Referendum roadshow presentations: The district superintendent gave 45 presentations throughout the district’s municipalities (nearly 10 in total), across 105 square miles.

• Board meetings/workshops: Fifteen were held with a specific focus on facility planning.

• Communications materials: Ads, fact sheets, display boards, direct mail, and more were disseminated throughout the district.

Crucial to the district’s success was the involvement and active presence of the superintendent. They presented nearly 50 roadshows, posted up at coffee shops to be available to residents looking to chat, sent continual emails and made phone calls to connect with staff and community members, and more. The superintendent additionally got in front of staff immediately to answer questions and share transparent info on what they could expect.

First Successful Referendum in More Than a Decade

In November 2024, the district passed its first school referendum in over a decade with 58 percent of the vote. Rightsizing district infrastructure can come with challenges, but can ultimately provide solutions that make the best long-term fiscal sense.

Key Takeaways When Considering Rightsizing and School Consolidation

The decision to rightsize and/or consolidate buildings is not an easy one. So much life and learning happens in a school building, and it’s incredibly challenging to consider closing one. But there can be long-term advantages that better serve a district, which, in turn, can better serve its students, families, staff, and a community at large. When districts reach a crossroad, there are some important factors that can help forge a path forward:

• Let data guide and inform decisions. Rightsizing buildings is a large investment of time and effort, and it is critical to utilize data to support facility planning. Plus, data will help garner community support and tell a district’s story.

• Be open and transparent with the community. In an environment where emotions can run high, transparency is key. It’s important to create touchpoints for the community to offer their input — and equally important for that feedback to be taken seriously.

• Find a vetted, trusted facility planning partner. Superintendents and other school leaders already have an incredibly challenging job in running their district without a potential referendum on the ballot. Partnering with experts who are well-versed in facilities assessments, K-12 construction, and referendum strategy can help guide your district to rightsized success.

*https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11537490/