Green Bay School Board to vote Oct. 23 whether to close 2 elementary schools

GREEN BAY — The Green Bay School District plans to close Keller and Tank elementary schools after this school year. It also plans to ask voters to approve a $150 million capital referendum in 2024.

With enrollment declining since 2016, the district doesn't have enough students to fill its 42 schools. In Wisconsin, state funding and taxing power is based on the number of students enrolled. Simply put, fewer students means less revenue for Green Bay.

With high inflation over the last year and the depletion of federal pandemic relief dollars next fall, the district is looking at a $7.5 million budget deficit next school year.

The closures of Keller and Tank would knock off $1.5 million from the deficit, according to a memo from Superintendent Claude Tiller and his administration. It would also reduce empty seats on the district's west side by 359.

The district is recommending the board vote on the closing both Keller and Tank at its Oct. 23 meeting.

To reduce operating expenditures, the district plans to close low-enrollment schools and those with high maintenance costs. A community task force recommended in May that the Green Bay School Board close 11 schools, as well as the downtown district headquarters.

Since then, the board voted to close Wequiock Elementary next school year and absorb those students at Red Smith K-8. The board did not accept the recommendation to close the Leonardo da Vinci School for Gifted Learners and move it from its downtown location to Webster Elementary.

The board has yet to make official decisions on the other nine schools recommended to close; it has less than a year to plan cuts and get a balanced budget.

District recommends closing Tank after this year, moving students to Lincoln

Tank Elementary was originally recommended to close, with those students moving to Fort Howard Elementary. However, the plan failed to account for special education programming changes at Fort Howard that left the school without enough space to house Tank's 111 students.

To fit Tank's students at the school, Fort Howard would need a $6 million addition that could delay closing Tank for two years, according to the memo.

The district is recommending that Tank's students move to Lincoln Elementary next school year, which has 172 students and is at 54% capacity.

Lincoln's ideal capacity is 320 students, according to the architecture consulting firm ATSR, which was hired by the district to analyze its buildings. Tank has about 111 students this year and is at 37% of its capacity.

In the next decade, the district predicts the combined enrollment of Tank and Lincoln won't exceed 300 students.

ATSR estimated that Tank Elementary needs $5.3 million in maintenance and upgrades, ranging from low to high priority. About $2.2 million has been invested in Tank's building over the last decade, according to the district's fixed assets chart obtained by the Press-Gazette.

In addition to avoiding millions in maintenance, the consolidation would save $874,000 in overall costs each year, according to district estimates. It expects to save about $915,000 in personnel costs or a reduction of about 10 full-time equivalent employees through districtwide attrition.

The district would also save $39,000 in utilities by closing Tank. Adding two more bus routes to facilitate transportation would cost $80,000 a year. Tank is about 1.5 miles from Lincoln Elementary, about a half-mile farther than Fort Howard.

Tank students would move into a newer school, according to the district. Lincoln was built in 1958 and was rebuilt in 1993, whereas Tank was built in 1939 with a 1990 addition.

The district also said the move would maintain racial diversity and combine feeder patterns. Currently, some of Tank's students go to Lombardi Middle and then Southwest High School while the rest go to Franklin Middle and then West High School.

Lincoln's students follow the Franklin to West feeder pattern, so Tank's cohorts would progress through their educations together. However, feeder patterns could change as a result of recommendations of the boundary task force, which has yet to convene.

The district would need to find a new home for Minoka-Hill, the alternative school, since it was proposed to move to Lincoln under the task force recommendations.

Keller recommended to close, students move to Kennedy

Under recommendations from the community task force, Keller, Kennedy and MacArthur elementary schools would close. Students at those schools would move to a new west-side elementary that would be built on Kennedy's property.

The district is recommending that Keller Elementary close after this school year and that those students move to Kennedy. The recommendation comes as Keller is at 47% of its capacity with 152 students.

Kennedy has a capacity of 470 students with a current enrollment of 292 students, so it can absorb all of Keller's students. Combining the two schools doesn't change the feeder patterns for either school, and all of Keller's students would be eligible for busing.

Administrators met with the Keller and Kennedy communities last week to tell them about the consolidation, Tiller said at Monday's board meeting.

"We had a little tears (at) Keller because they thought they had a longer time before that would happen," Tiller said. "They were expecting two to four years out, so it was kind (of) by surprise."

This interim move will save $622,000 annually, according to the district's estimates. The district would avoid $6.9 million in maintenance, particularly $2.1 million for a new HVAC system. It was originally installed in 1970 and is 12 years overdue for replacement, according to the memo.

It will save $694,000 in personnel costs through the attrition of about eight full-time equivalent employees, along with $47,000 in utilities savings. Transportation would add between $80,000 and $120,000 in expenditures.

About $317,000 has been invested in Keller over the last decade, according to the district's fixed assets chart.

"Moving this consolidation prior to the completion of the referendum enables students to have greater access to resources, more consistent staffing for specials, and enables the district to continue to address the fiscal cliff for the 2024-25 school year," according to the administrative memo.

The district said it will make nonstructural upgrades to Kennedy, such as installing interactive flat-panel televisions to replace chalkboards and lunchroom modifications, despite a new school replacing it in a few years.

GBAPS wants $150 million to build a new west-side elementary

The district also plans to ask voters for a $150 million capital referendum in 2024 to pay for the new west-side elementary, security upgrades and other maintenance projects.

In fall 2022, voters approved a $96.8 million capital referendum for athletic facility upgrades at the high schools and routine maintenance projects districtwide.

The $150 million would go toward:

• The new west-side elementary for students at Keller, Kennedy and MacArthur;

• Renovations at West High School to absorb the district headquarters and/or the John Dewey Academy of Learning;

• Districtwide security upgrades;

• Accessibility upgrades to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act;

• Academic and technology improvements;

• An auditorium addition at Red Smith K-8, and an addition at Lombardi Middle and improvements at Aldo Leopold K-8;

• Districtwide deferred maintenance like HVAC replacements, roofs and flooring.

The district is expected to present a more detailed project list with cost breakdowns at a future meeting.

Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay School District wants to close Tank and Keller next year