Declining enrollment is nothing new to many school districts, including the School District of Waukesha. Due to this, the district is considering what the future will look like and making decisions accordingly. During the Finance and Facilities meeting on Monday, Superintendent Jim Sebert made a presentation called “Optimizing Our Future.” Sebert said due to enrollment dropping, the district’s goal is to reduce building capacity by 10-15% to be in line with the current enrollment trends. The focus will be on K-8 schools.
“We’re calling this optimizing our future because we are in a good position as a school district. The financial stewardship that this board and boards before have shown the way we work together, administratively and as a board; however, enrollment is not what it used to be, and so we know that that’s not a Waukesha problem, that’s not just a Wisconsin problem, that’s a nationwide situation,” Sebert said.
Sebert said the district’s last two schools were built and opened in 1993 to address increases in enrollment which were projected and peaked in 2012/2013 at just over 13,000 students.
“However, today, though, we see our enrollment dropping. It’s projected to drop through 2034 on the studies we have done, and we currently hover right around 10,500 students,” he said.
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Amidst declining enrollment, Madison is building schools…
