69 Wisconsin schools have closed in the past two years. More could follow.

The closures come as school districts grapple with high costs, state-imposed revenue limits, limited state funding, insufficient funds for special education and declining enrollment – which has dropped for 11 straight years statewide.

Limited state funding makes finances difficult for public schools

The state's 2009-11 budget act eliminated the inflationary increase to the per pupil adjustment allowed under revenue limits, according to the state's Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, attempted to ease funding woes in 2023 by using a partial veto to increase the revenue limit by $325 per student for the next 400 years. Republicans have proposed action to undo that maneuver. But even if Evers' increase remains, funding remains short of the rise in costs.

The lack of state aid to offset the property tax impact of that increase could especially affect districts experiencing dropping enrollment and those that cover the cost of a large number of voucher students, according to an analysis of the state's 2025-27 biennial budget by the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials.

Special education funding is also part of the equation. The state had initially pledged a 42% reimbursement rate this year and 45% next year; the amounts were a compromise, as Evers had proposed a 60% reimbursement rate. But in November, the state Department of Public Instruction announced it would reimburse districts for just 35% of their special education costs.

Special education reimbursement is drawn from a fixed pot of money set by the Legislature. Since districts spent more on special education last year than estimated when calculating aid in the state budget, total claims exceeded the allotted amount, the DPI said. Consequently, the agency said it must lower the initial reimbursement rate to avoid overspending.

School districts are legally required to provide programs for students with disabilities. With funding lagging behind the need, school districts must divert money from their general funds to cover those costs.

Districts statewide are considering a variety of cost-cutting measures to help make up the shortage. For example, they might slow hiring, share staff between buildings, close schools, reduce summer professional development and pay, and consider re-working benefits packages.

Is consolidation the answer?

Some districts, like a group of K-8 districts in Waukesha County that feed into Arrowhead Union High School, are exploring the possibility of joining forces through consolidation.

It's a strategy that seems to be supported by state lawmakers. The state Assembly passed a series of bills in November to provide financial incentives for school districts to consolidate. The state Senate has not yet voted on the bills.

The bills would offer state aid to school districts that merge in the next three years and provide four-year grants to schools that enter into a whole-grade sharing agreement. The practice allows two or more districts to combine certain grades into one program at a single school, instead of each district running its own grade level.

But at least one superintendent cautions that even consolidation might not be a permanent solution.

Although the Lake Country School District is among those Arrowhead feeder districts considering the possibility of consolidation, Superintendent Chad Schraufnagel said it wouldn't be a long-term answer.

Consolidation "only kicks the can down the road for a number of years," he said, before districts are back to needing a referendum.

Referendums can help, but public appetite may be waning

Referendums can provide some relief. Facilities referendums provide funding for capital projects. Operational referendums give school districts money above the state-imposed revenue limit, and are typically used to fund day-to-day needs such as salaries.

Districts have increasingly turned to referendums, in part due to how dramatic and disruptive school closures can be, said Sara Shaw, senior research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum. In 2024, there were 241 school referendums on ballots statewide, the highest number ever, according to a Policy Forum report.

But the public’s willingness to approve such measures may be fading. Voters approved 169 of the 2024 referendums, an approval rating of about 70% when considering both facilities and operational referendums.

But just 66.2% of operational referendums passed, the lowest rate in a midterm or presidential election year since 2012.

This spring, 72 school districts statewide will go to referendum; just 12 are for capital referendums, according to the DPI referendum database. The remainder seek to raise money above the state-imposed revenue limits. Two districts – Howard-Suamico in Brown County and Sauk Prairie in Sauk County – will have both capital and operational referendums on the ballot.

School closures are happening statewide

As the financial needs remain, districts may be forced to turn to “more sobering” solutions such as school closures, Shaw said.

Many districts have already made such decisions:

• The Green Bay Area Public School District closed three elementary schools at the end of the 2023-24 school year and will close three more at the end of 2025-26.
• The Appleton Area School District closed one school at the end of 2024-25.
• The Kettle Moraine School District will close one school at the end of 2025-26.
• The Cudahy School District will close two schools at the end of 2025-26.
• The Waukesha School District will close three school buildings at the end of 2025-26.

Other school districts are considering closures in the coming years, including the state’s largest school district, Milwaukee Public Schools, where a consultant has recommended possibly closing five schools.

Elsewhere in Wisconsin, the Lake Country and Hustisford school districts have both said if their operational referendums don’t pass this spring, they could be forced to dissolve.

Even if their referendums are approved, both have said it would just buy them time to explore potential consolidation with neighboring districts as they expect financial challenges to continue.

Declining enrollment is a big reason behind school closures

Shaw said that while the Policy Forum has not specifically studied school closures, it has closely tracked student enrollment, which has a direct effect on funding.

Enrollment has declined at public school districts every year for more than a decade. That decline has affected a majority of Wisconsin school districts, Shaw said.

Statewide, public school enrollment in the 2014-15 school year was 870,652. By 2024-25, that had dropped to 805,881, according to the Policy Forum, a decline of almost 65,000 students – more than 7% statewide.

The main factor: a decline in the birth rate statewide.

Even if the birth rate increased now, it would take time for those numbers to catch up to the school system, Shaw said -  and there's no evidence to suggest the birth rate is increasing.

There are also other issues at play. For example, Shaw said, net migration into Wisconsin has decreased.

Enrollment in private and charter schools is another factor

The movement of students into private or charter schools and homeschools, which increased during the pandemic, is another factor.

While enrollment in private schools has fluctuated over the last few years, it appears to be stabilizing or decreasing slightly from the pandemic years. Private school enrollment is 126,355 statewide in 2025, Shaw said.

She also noted that the enrollment cap on the Wisconsin Private Choice Program is lifting, which could further affect private school enrollment. The enrollment cap is now 10% of a district's enrollment. That cap expires at the end of this school year, potentially clearing the way for additional participants in the program.

Enrollment at independent charter schools – that is, charters not run by a public school district - has increased nearly every year since the program started in 2006. Although that does appear to have some effect on public schools' enrollment, Shaw added that charter school enrollment in 2025 was 12,225 students, or just 1.5% of total public school enrollment.

"In general, though, districts worry that fewer students may mean fewer dollars and less community investment (monetarily or otherwise)," Shaw said.

Open enrollment can also affect a district's finances

Open enrollment can be another factor in explaining why enrollment has dropped in some districts.

In Wisconsin, families living in one school district may send their children to a different public school district. They do so for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the family has moved, but prefers to keep their children in their original school. Or a family may find specific opportunities appealing that aren't available in the district where they live.

Those decisions are significant, because funding travels with a student. In 2024-25, the amount of open enrollment funding tied to each student was $8,962, and more for students with disabilities, according to the DPI. The 2025-26 amounts are estimated to increase.

For an example of how this can affect a district, consider the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, where far more students left the district for other public schools than opted to come into the district in 2024-25, Shaw said.

Just 447 students entered the district through open enrollment compared to 1,497 students leaving for other districts that year. That resulted in a net loss to the district of about $9.16 million through open enrollment, according to the DPI.

The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District did not respond to a reporter's messages seeking comment.

Considerations when debating whether to close schools

As enrollment decreases, school districts are faced with the fixed costs of running school buildings with fewer students in them - and less money coming in, since state funding is awarded on a per pupil basis. Combine that with the increasing pressures of inflation and the possibility that referendums might not pass, and that’s when talk turns to consolidations or closings.

Shaw said there are financial and emotional considerations that must be taken into account.

Financially, districts must decide how many buildings it’s feasible to run. It can be a tough decision to sink money into maintaining or renovating aging facilities, particularly if there’s a possibility the district could do without the space.

Districts must also consider how much it costs to staff a building. Shaw noted that labor costs make up the majority of school districts' operating budgets, and every open building has certain fixed staffing costs such as a principal, teachers, custodial staff and administrative support.

"No matter how many or how few kids attend that school, all of those adults have to be in place for the school to operate," Shaw said. That means costs don't decrease at the same rate as revenue from per-pupil funding.

Shaw said other facilities considerations are also real, including:

• How much does it cost to keep up the building annually?
• What is the deferred maintenance on a building?
• Location of schools relative to each other (are there a lot of under-enrolled schools in close proximity?)
• Specialization or quality of different schools (e.g. where popular and high-quality programs are)
• Distance that students travel to school
• Significance of the buildings to the community
• Historical or current inequities in access to resources

The emotional piece of the decision to close a school is huge, too. "You might have communities that have been historically disinvested seeing the greatest enrollment declines and then feeling it as a further disinvestment if their schools are closed, if their neighborhood schools are closed. So it's a very thorny issue," Shaw said.

The effect of school closures on families

Columbus Elementary School in Appleton, built in 1893, had a long history in the community. But its age was part of the reason the school board voted in 2025 to close it.

At the time of the vote, preschool parent Nicole Foth described the neighborhood as close-knit and expressed concern that new school boundaries might break up the neighborhood.

Still, facing the need to address an $8.7 million deficit for the 2025-26 school year, the board opted to close the building and save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

"While it's a difficult decision, and perhaps in some ways an unfortunate one, I think it's the right decision," Appleton Area School Board member Ed Ruffolo said at the time.

In Green Bay, Kate Janiak initially tried to fight to keep her daughter's school, Wequiock Elementary, open. The school was part of Green Bay Area Public Schools.

When the Green Bay School Board voted to close the school after the 2023-24 school year, Janiak said, there were feelings of sadness, being overwhelmed and uncertainty not knowing how her then 7-year-old daughter, Eleanor, would handle the move to Red Smith School.

Janiak and her husband, Trevor, decided to shift gears to try to make the experience a positive one by letting Eleanor know there would be more opportunities at her new school.

Janiak said her daughter has adjusted well, still sees familiar faces from Wequiock and likes the teachers at her new school.

Things haven't gone as smoothly for some parents in the Waukesha School District.

Renee Messerschmidt's son moved to Hadfield Elementary when Whittier Elementary School closed in 2022. She said he would tell her about behavioral issues in the second-grade classrooms.

Even now, a couple years later, he and other students may face additional challenges when they move into Les Paul Middle School next year. Les Paul will have more students going there since Horning Middle School is being turned into a K-8 STEM school.

"My son was asking me, like, is this what it's going to be like in school? And I said, I don't know, honey. I really don't," Messerschmidt said. "It's very hard as a parent not to be able to say something that's very reassuring in that moment to your child."

Some parents in the Waukesha School District have also criticized the district's process in deciding which schools to close.

So what's the answer?

There is no one solution, as each school district has different community expectations and context, said Waukesha School District Superintendent James Sebert.

He said a proposed bill by state Rep. Dave Maxey could lessen the effects referendums have on how the state calculates equalization aid funding to districts.

As the formula exists now, a referendum can affect the amount of money a school district receives from the state – sometimes meaning more in state dollars aid, but sometimes less. That can have an effect on other districts, because there’s a limited pool of funding, according to Richard Loeza, a senior legislative analyst with the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau.

But that bill has not yet passed, and state funding has not increased, leaving school districts with limited options.

"Until the state Legislature decides that they are going to look at increasing funding or trying to change the funding model to help school districts out, operational referendums are the only mechanism to raise revenue to keep operating a school," said Schraufnagel, the Lake Country School District superintendent.

Shaw said it is hard to imagine school closures not being part of the picture.

Shaw said while districts can try sharing staff across school buildings, that carries its own difficulties and inefficiencies.

But she added that districts have many tools at their disposal, not just tools that increase revenue or decrease spending.

Ideally, Shaw said district leaders should start with a vision of what is most important to protect for students' sake and whether any changes could even improve students' experience. Once district leaders set that vision, they can decide how to use the tools available to them, whether school closures or otherwise, to manage difficult finances and prioritize students.

Tools fall into three basic categories, she said:

• Increase revenue, whether through measures such as referendums or attracting more students
• Decrease costs through a variety of methods, including closing or sharing schools; reducing staffing by slowing hiring, not filling vacancies, consolidating central office staff and services, sharing staff between buildings; rebidding benefits packages; and negotiating salary increases
• Stretch each dollar by:
  • Strengthening classroom teaching so students need fewer interventions; that could include reallocating central office staff to classrooms or incentivizing the strongest teachers to work in the neediest schools
  • Reducing staff absenteeism to get the most out of labor costs and student support
  • Using student impact data to inform decisions about entering or re-upping contracts

Not all of those options would be appropriate in all situations, Shaw said, but districts could use a combination, depending on their specific needs.

"School closures are often the most talked-about of these options and they can be a critical step, but on their own they are unlikely to change the trajectory of a district," Shaw said.