Author: WFBBuzz

Key Takeaways:

• Middle school options: A new option would build the school on Armory Park around the Veterans Monument, leaving it untouched, for $67.3M. No debate on which option being considered is preferred yet.
• Community survey: Open through July 31 — take it if you haven’t!
• Class sizes: With some sections projected at nearly 27 kids, the board directed administration to post for one additional upper-grade elementary teacher.

This week’s board meeting was anything but just a summer placeholder. Over roughly three hours, the board got its first look at a brand-new middle school site option that keeps the Veterans Monument and Memorial Garden exactly where it is, heard a status update on the community survey and had a candid debate about elementary class sizes.

A potential new wrinkle: build around the memorial

The headline document of the night was a fourth middle school option: build the new school on Armory Park, but notch the building around the existing Veterans Monument so it never moves. Architect Nick Kent walked the board through the current options being considered.

The district provided four updated cost summaries for the middle school:

• Option 1 — Maintenance only: $21.04 million. Fixes the documented maintenance list but the layout stays exactly as-is and extends the life of the old building. Complete summer 2030.
• Option 2 — New building on Armory Park (last April’s ballot question): $67.7 million. Requires relocating the memorial and green space, tennis courts, and a parking lot. Complete fall 2029.
• Option 3 — Renovate and expand in place: $67.8 million. A three-year, four-phase “full gut” that keeps students on site the entire time. Complete spring 2031.
• Option 4 — New building, memorial untouched: $67.3 million. The building shifts south, the memorial stays put, and the school wraps around it. Complete fall 2029.

Click the underlined options above for more granular details from the school district (loaded to Dropbox)

The tradeoff on Option 4 is the lacrosse field. Pushing the building south shrinks the practice field below regulation dimensions for lacrosse and soccer, meaning competitions would move to the stadium complex creating more scheduling pressure there. It also requires a retaining wall near the softball field and additional Village-owned land, and Kent was candid that a three-story building wrapping a memorial raises a question: how close can you build “and maintain the dignity of that site”?

Kent was equally candid about what renovate-in-place actually means. It is not patching what’s broken — it’s stripping the building to its bones while roughly 600 students remain on site. Ten temporary classrooms in the gymnasiums, no functioning gym for up to three years, no library for a stretch, reduced outdoor play space, and a likely closure of Henry Clay Street for staging.

The board was explicit that no decision was being made Tuesday — these are “data points,” not finalists. 

The community survey is ongoing

The Donovan Group reported that more than 1,000 survey responses have come in thus far as of Tuesday evening, well past the firm’s minimum target, though the board is hoping for many more responses. The survey stays open through July 31st, with a full report to the board targeted for mid-August. Don’t forget to take the survey if you haven’t already! It can be accessed here.

Class sizes

This past school year, there was a vocal cohort of parents who were not pleased with class sizes at the elementary schools. The board discussed the potential for adding sections to alleviate the class size issue. Current projections put Cumberland’s 3rd grade and Richards’ 5th grade at an average of 26.75 students per section, with Cumberland 5th grade at 26. The Administration shared that adding a section costs roughly $142,000–$146,000 once you count the teacher, Encore minutes (art, music, PE, Spanish), Chromebooks, and furniture.

Board members invoked the district’s own staffing plan, which cites a historical class-size range of 21–26 — and several were blunt that 27 kids in an elementary room isn’t consistent with what this community expects. After polling the table (four in favor, two neutral), the board directed administration to post for one additional upper-grade elementary teacher, deliberately not pinned to a specific grade or building yet, so enrollment can shake out over the next few weeks. The budget already carried a placeholder for one section, so this doesn’t create a deficit. 

One more month. The board has to settle a November referendum question by the end of August.

While most Wisconsin school districts are bracing for a reduction in state aid next year, Whitefish Bay is among the minority that will likely see an increase, a meaningful piece of context as the district prepares to ask voters for a new facilities referendum this fall.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released its preliminary general aid estimates last week for the 2026-27 school year. As reported by WPR, the headline statewide: about 60% of Wisconsin’s 421 public school districts will see state aid decrease, with 92 districts hitting the maximum allowable reduction of 15%. Only 38% of districts will see an increase, Whitefish Bay among them, while a handful expect no change.

What It Means for Whitefish Bay

Whitefish Bay’s general aid from the state is projected to increase by $320,761 — a 2.07% gain, rising from $15,487,946 in 2025-26 to $15,808,707 in 2026-27.

The WFB Buzz reached out to Ben Irwin, the district’s Director of Business Services, who confirmed the numbers and provided a more precise breakdown. The 2026-27 estimate of $15,808,707 consists of $15,495,806 in Equalization Aid plus $312,901 in Special Adjustment Aid tied to the Chapter 220 program. The prior year’s total of $15,487,946 broke down as $15,056,426 in Equalization Aid plus $432,520 in Chapter 220 Special Adjustment Aid. Irwin noted the district also receives state aid from other sources (Special Education Aid and Per Pupil Aid among them) but Equalization Aid is the largest single source of state revenue the district receives each year.

That’s welcome news, but it’s important to understand what state aid figures actually mean. As Irwin put it: Equalization Aid “will not impact how much total revenue we have to work with within our budget since Equalization Aid is balanced out with the tax levy within the Revenue Limit.” Sara Shaw, deputy research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, made the same point to Wisconsin Public Radio: a change in state aid doesn’t change how much a district can spend — it changes where that money comes from. If state aid goes up, property tax levy needs go down proportionally. If state aid goes down, property taxes fill the gap.

In other words, a $320,761 increase in state aid is effectively a reduction in pressure on Whitefish Bay property taxpayers — a modest but real benefit heading into a year when the district is also likely to ask voters to approve a significant capital referendum.

It’s also worth noting that overall state general school aid remains flat statewide for the third consecutive year at $5.58 billion. Factors often cited in the broader debate include declining statewide enrollment as birth rates have fallen and a growing shift of funding toward voucher programs. Notably, the state’s most recent budget did include a $1.4 billion increase for K-12, but directed it toward special education reimbursement rather than general aid. “Membership”, as the DPI reports enrollment, is down 1.9% across the state using January 2025 numbers compared to January 2026. Whitefish Bay’s membership increased in this same time period from 2796 to 2838 according to the data.

The stakes of school aid trajectory are not lost on village leadership. Village President Kevin Buckley commented to the Buzz: “When asked by state officials to name the biggest issue facing our village, my answer is school funding. That might be an abdication of my municipal duty, but it is the honest reality for us and communities across Wisconsin.”

How Neighboring Districts Fared

The results among nearby districts were mixed:

July Estimates Can Move

These are preliminary July 1 estimates — the figures are finalized each October, and the gap between the two can be significant. Last year’s July estimate for Whitefish Bay was roughly $16.1 million; the certified October number came in nearly $600,000 lower.

Irwin explained why: the July 1 estimate is based on budget data, while the October certification is based on actual fiscal activity and the district anticipated that drop. He added that the DPI has moved to a new fiscal reporting format allowing districts to submit budget data more regularly, which he expects will narrow the July-to-October gap going forward.

There’s also a factor entirely outside the district’s control: spending trends at other districts across the state affect how the aid formula distributes the fixed statewide pot. “It is not a perfect science, but we do our best to maximize state aid for Whitefish Bay in order to minimize the tax burden on the community,” Irwin said. He noted that Whitefish Bay sits “right on the edge” of the formula’s shared-cost scenarios, so the district monitors spending habits and statewide trends closely.

One concrete example of that active management: Irwin confirmed that the district’s recent early payoff of its remaining debt obligations — covered by WFBBuzz in May — was done in part to try and take advantage of this formula and get the district more aid this fall.