MANITWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Manitowoc’s school board is looking for a lower cost option to consolidate elementary schools for the 2025-26 school year.
The district says $161 million in maintenance needs over the next ten years were recently identified in an audit.
It comes at a time when elementary schools have a capacity for 2,200 students, but only 1,786 are enrolled in the district.
Manitowoc’s school board voted Tuesday night to have district officials come up with a lower cost option for consolidating elementary schools.
Before the vote, there was a lot of debate among school board members on whether the public has had a say in the process.
“I think we’re starting on the wrong end of this whole project,” said Kerry Trask, the board’s vice president.
“I don’t know where we’re hearing this that we’re misleading the public or not having public input, because I’ve been hearing the public say how we need to look at our facilities and have some updating going on,” said Matthew Phipps, a school board member.
Superintendent James Feil wanted the board to pass his recommendations of closing two elementary schools and reopening Stangel Learning Center as an elementary school. The recommendations included borrowing up to $20.6 million to restore Stangel to an elementary school and provide other upgrades at the other schools staying open.
“Over 10 years we lost 1,000 students and we haven’t done anything,” said Feil. “We’re still maintaining the same facilities for 1,000 less students. That in itself is an issue.”
A district finance official told the board the plan would actually raise taxes, leading to the vote to come up with a lower cost plan.
Board members said they hope to get the public involved before a special meeting is held at the end of the month to discuss and potentially vote on a revised plan.
No decisions have been made on which schools would close. However, superintendent Feil said Jackson, Madison, Franklin, and Riverview are being consideration.
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