The Case for the Wauwatosa School Referendum

By Lisa Lawless and Benjamin La Macchia *

As many have no doubt heard, on November 6, there is a school facilities referendum on the ballot in Wauwatosa. The referendum was adopted by the Wauwatosa School Board in August, after receiving a recommendation from the Facilities Advisory Committee (FAC), which spent 14 months meeting and carefully studying the District facilities and the future needs of the District. *We are the Co-Chairs of the District’s FAC. These thoughts are solely are own; we do not speak for the District or anyone else.

REFERENDUM: For Wauwatosa school facilities not to exceed $124.9 million.

INCLUDED PROJECTS:

• New buildings at McKinley and Underwood Elementary Schools;
• Hybrid/new buildings at Lincoln and Wilson Elementary Schools;
• Upgrades/repairs at all facilities throughout the District for building maintenance and HVAC systems;
• Upgrades to improve ADA accessibility;
• Upgrade facilities to bring them up to today’s standards in safety and security; and
• Upgrade tech ed facilities at Tosa East and Tosa West high schools.

Citizens are lining up on both sides of the question. Ultimately, the referendum will be for the voters to decide. When casting a vote, citizens should keep in mind some fundamental realities and principles underlying the recommendations and findings that lead to the ballot referendum.

WAUWATOSA, A CITY OF NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS: Wauwatosa is a community of neighborhoods and neighborhood public schools. Often prospective new residents will choose one community versus another not only because of its strong neighborhoods but also because of its public school system. Many new families have chosen to move to Wauwatosa because of the schools which in turn has created demand in our housing market thus raising property values. Currently, the Wauwatosa School District has the fourth largest enrollment in the last 36 years. This is a reflection of its ability to provide a quality public education.

The District serves a wide geographic area that extends from Hampton Avenue on the North, to Blue Mound Road on the South, from 60th Street on the East, and 124th Street on the West. The expansive geography, dense housing stock, and community-mandated desire to retain neighborhood schools are direct contributors to a network of 14 school facilities, many of which have reached the age of 70 years or beyond. Of this total, the Wauwatosa School District has nine neighborhood elementary schools plus the Montessori school at the Fisher Building. Several of the elementary schools house STEM programs in addition to the traditional K-5 programs and both middle schools have STEM programs. The District has two middle schools and two high schools. Although the concept of consolidation (closing schools) has been broached in the past to City voters, it was soundly rejected. Therefore the District is committed to retaining the nine neighborhood elementary schools not only to respect the desires of the community but also to avoid a scenario that would require introduction of busing students. Busing is an expensive proposition and one that, by all accounts, would far outweigh any financial benefit of school closures.

PURPOSE OF THE REFERENDUM: The scope of work within the referendum is intended to make needed repairs and upgrades to outdated systems along with enhancing students’ educational experience. One principle in the recommendations is equity across the District in the quality of school facilities. As a result, our work on the FAC identified four schools whose needs were so excessive that remodeling them is not a viable option for the long-term. Simply renovating the four elementary schools instead of replacement, although less expensive in the short-term than new buildings, would lose that cost savings in short order, as over time, the costs of the old structures will exceed the cost of newly-built facilities. For example, the study of renovation versus new construction at McKinley found that while there were $2.3 million initial savings to renovate vs. build new, the life cycle cost found that after 12 years, the new school was more cost-effective than the renovation. (This also included analysis of annual operating costs.) The timeline was an approximately 12 months for a new building versus upwards of 24 months for the multi-phased renovation. The multi-phased renovation would have required relocation of classrooms off-site for the duration of most of the project.

The proposed referendum would build four new elementary buildings at those facilities that are most lacking in the key areas of ADA accessibility, safety and security, classroom facilities, and mechanical systems including HVAC. Upgrades and repairs in ADA accessibility and safety and security along with furniture systems that are compatible with modern day learning environments would occur at the other elementary school facilities throughout the District. The District elementary schools are in the greatest need thus the referendum will ensure that all elementary students will have improved learning environments and air quality and comfort. Achieving this will be a huge step towards modernizing our students’ learning environments and towards addressing major deferred maintenance items The benefits derived from the improved building systems, and the new school facilities, will generate cost-savings over time that can be reinvested in other District facilities for items such as replacement of other systems as they reach the end of their useful lives.

THE DISTRICT’S FACILITIES STEWARDSHIP: Our democratically-elected School Board and the District have taken the bold step of identifying and addressing the problem areas that we’ve referenced above before they spiral out of control. Now is the time to address the long-term facilities needs of the District. The average age of the buildings is 74 years old with the newest building at 50 years of age. The District’s battle against time will eventually fall short in spite of its extensive efforts to maintain these facilities. Our research and due diligence revealed that the District has been extremely good stewards of the school facilities and grounds, investing and planning for capital repairs and replacement over the years, and maintaining the mechanical systems to extend them well past their useful life. For example, the District has invested $40 million in facilities and grounds over the past 16 years to maintain the 1.5 million square feet of buildings and 150 acres of buildings and grounds. As the facilities and their mechanicals age-out, the risk of building emergencies increases. So does the cost of repairs to the older mechanicals. Over time, the cost of maintaining, repairing, and replacing the facilities and building mechanicals will only increase at an increasingly greater pace. The Board and District have chosen to be proactive instead of reactive by identifying and acting on the inherent risk that these aging systems pose.

THE DISTRICT’S FISCAL STEWARDSHIP: Over the last 20 years, the District has done a great deal without making significant monetary demands upon taxpayers. This has been evidenced by the District’s refusal to short-term borrow. Further, Wauwatosa has not had a school facilities referendum in 25 years. The District has been a sound fiscal steward and managed its finances wisely. Compared to other school districts in the surrounding Milwaukee/Waukesha area, Wauwatosa has the lowest school tax mill rate among those districts. It is in fact below the state average in school mill rates. Even with the referendum, the District will remain below the state average in mill rate and below that of its neighboring districts. The byproduct of the District’s prudent approach to spending taxpayer money is that now additional funds are needed to modernize and address myriad facilities-related deferred maintenance issues.

MODERN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: One moment that particularly struck us was when we compared a turn-of-the-century classroom to a present-day Wauwatosa school classroom. Some District classrooms look much the same as back then. Yet educational methods have changed substantially since the elementary school buildings were constructed in the first half of the 1900’s. Collaboration and project-based learning including STEM, and the recognition that students learn best in different types of environments suitable to the subject are more effective. Old-fashioned classrooms with desks in perfect rows and students facing forward while seated all day do not provide opportunities for them to engage in a learning environment that will resemble the world that we as a community are trying to prepare them for. The facilities in question were not designed with the modern computer age in mind, wireless access, smart boards, and the like. This creates many obstacles for the sort of connectivity and flexibility that our students need and deserve.

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL: When most of the elementary school buildings were constructed, accessibility was not prioritized. Since then, society has recognized the need for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with communities across the United States realizing the vital importance of ADA accessibility to all students, staff, and visitors to facilities. Many of the Wauwatosa school facilities, and particularly the four slated to be rebuilt, are sorely lacking in accessibility. In spite of the law granting leniency to the District by grandfathering its existing non-ADA compliant conditions, we do not believe that this is appropriate or fair. Students, staff, and visitors that are in need of ADA access to our schools deserve better! We believe that this must be addressed, because Wauwatosa is a community that believes in accessibility for all.

THE DISTRICT FACILITIES AS NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS: As a city of neighborhoods with neighborhood schools, Wauwatosa’s school facilities serve more than the traditional school day and serve more persons than simply the kids who attend each school. The schools – elementary, middle, and high schools as well as the Fisher Building – serve as community centers, venues for recreation department classes, group meetings for groups such as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, community group meetings with alderpersons, the police department, and neighborhood associations, adult sports activities such as basketball games, indoor soccer in the winter with the Tosa Kickers, and the like. The school facilities are used to host performing arts activities. The public schools also serve children who attend private schools who cannot get the services they need at their home schools, including special support services. District services to the community extend beyond our buildings, including teaching at Children’s Hospital, the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center, and the Wauwatosa Virtual Academy. District buildings serve students beyond September to May as well – a full assortment of summer school classes are offered to students in middle and high school.

THE PROCESS AND WORK OF THE FAC: The recommendations culminating in the referendum adopted by the School Board were reached after 14 months of careful study by the FAC, a citizen committee of parents, community members, empty nesters, nonparents, and persons of all walks of life, professions, and political persuasions. The FAC included persons employed in the fields of planning, architectural design, property management, and construction. It included persons whose business is real estate development. It also included educators and leaders knowledgeable about the needs of modern learning and our students. This independent group carefully studied the historical expenditures and capital costs for District facilities, and the future costs and needs of the facilities in the long and short-term. We considered the features, benefits, and characteristics of modern learning environments and how they could be better integrated into current classroom environments. We toured the school facilities and had a first-hand view of building mechanical systems, noting the shortage of ADA accessible features and appropriate security measures. Our process was collaborative, engaged, and completely transparent. Many questions relating to fiscal responsibility were asked and discussed. During our process we reported our findings to the community through a series of public meetings. This allowed us to gather input from community members. All throughout this process, the District engaged in regular communications to inform the populace of our study and process.

VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6: We personally will be voting Yes to the referendum because the proposed projects are critical to avoiding even greater expenses for deferred maintenance down the road. Now is the time to deal with our aging facilities and to address and improve our school facilities for the short and long-term. The proposed referendum will serve our District students by improving learning environments, addressing ADA accessibility deficiencies, and creating safer facilities for our students. This value is shared by the majority of Wauwatosa citizens. The community survey results reported in June show, with a +/- 1.9% margin of error, that 54% of Wauwatosa citizens would support a referendum of $125 million. With the referendum projects, our community will make a significant investment in our schools, reaping the benefits of a better education for our students and a positive impact to property values.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Wauwatosa is a community of engaged citizens who care deeply about our future. Not surprisingly, engagement and interest in the referendum has been strong. We thank everyone for that commitment and we encourage you to be sure to vote on November 6. When considering your vote, some thoughts to consider:

• Do the public schools serve a vital role in our community? Are they a central part of economic vitality and community growth? What do you want Wauwatosa to be?
• Is accessibility for all students, parents, and visitors a priority in our school facilities?
• As a community, will we commit to bringing our facilities up to best practices for the safety and security of our students and teachers and staff?
• Do we want our schools to serve as community centers, continuing to serve our greater community as places to gather and be active? Do we want our schools to enhance their role as community gathering places?