Green Bay Press Gazette - Green Bay, Wis.
Author: Mike Hoeft
Date: Jan 30, 2006
Source: Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
* Statewide K-12 average expense: $8,734 per pupil. Expenses per pupil exclude transportation, debt service, capital expansion and nonprogram costs.
DE PERE -- With De Pere's two school districts both looking to build new elementary schools to accommodate growth, some residents are again asking why the city remains divided into separate public school systems.
"It's a waste of money," said De Pere resident Paul Wozniak. Consolidating the two districts -- De Pere and West De Pere -- would save taxpayers money because duplicated programs and administrative and supply costs could be reduced, he said.
But others disagree, saying that consolidation usually works best if one district is much smaller or is experiencing decreases -- not gains -- in enrollment.
Voters in the De Pere district in November approved a $21 million expansion plan to add an elementary school near Rockland Road and upgrade the high school and middle school to accommodate growth. Capacity will be reached by the 2007-08 school year with 3,767 students and enrollment is expected to climb to more than 4,000 by 2010-11.
In West De Pere, meanwhile, voters will decide this spring whether to build an elementary school to accommodate growth. Enrollment is expected to climb from 2,200 currently to more than 2,600 by 2010-11.
Opponents of consolidation say it could increase operational costs and threaten community identity and traditions.
Just as the Fox River acts as a divider between the east and west sides of De Pere, Wozniak said parochial attitudes work as a barrier to change.
"Why is this? No one wants to step on another's turf," he said.
"I've got to think it would save money," Alderman Mike Fleck said about consolidation.
Merger efforts failed
The unusual situation resulted in De Pere after the east and west sides of the city merged in 1890, with the school systems staying separate.
Richard Peters of De Pere, who favors consolidation, said school district mergers have been attempted in citywide referendums over the past 50 years, but have failed.
Former De Pere mayor Robert DeGroot, a retired math teacher at West De Pere High School, said that while consolidation referendums were approved by most people in urban De Pere, they were defeated because they lacked approval by all townships that are part of the school districts.
"I don't know if it would be progress to have one school system," DeGroot said. There are also the rivalry and the tax base to consider, he said.
Tax base
Public schools make up 48 percent of a resident's property tax bill. So a resident in west De Pere pays a different tax rate than one in east De Pere. The tax rates generally have been lower on the west side in recent years. Now with both districts looking at school expansion, tax rates are likely to go up in both districts.
The mill rate currently is $18.35 per $1,000 of property value on the west side and $19.33 per $1,000 on the east side, said De Pere Clerk-Treasurer David Minten.
De Pere homeowner Ray Thao, whose children attend West De Pere schools, said he always wondered why there were two districts.
"I'd like to know," Thao said. "But I don't mind the way it is. Cheaper is OK."
Clayton Smits, who taught math for 34 years at De Pere High School, said he doesn't think consolidation would save much money on administration costs.
While a merged district would have just one superintendent, it might require hiring more assistant superintendents, he said.
"I would be opposed to consolidation because it's that much harder to deal with," Smits said. "There are real benefits in smaller districts."
Wouldn't solve crowding
Ben Villarruel, superintendent of De Pere School District, said consolidation might have merit at some point, but it wouldn't be the answer to current crowding because of enrollment growth.
Before the Nov. 8 referendum, some residents asked if merging with the West De Pere School District would help accommodate the new growth. Villarruel said neither school district would be able to absorb the enrollment growth without expanding their facilities.
Both districts strive to share programming and cut costs whenever possible, Villarruel said.
"The districts share an English language learner teacher and are talking about at-risk program sharing," he said. "We also may look at sharing some extracurricular programs."
Lanny Tibaldo, superintendent of the West De Pere School District, said cooperation between the districts is exceptional.
"Any time we can work together for the kids, we do it," Tibaldo said. "The advantage now is that a parent can call and talk to the superintendent. That probably wouldn't happen if the districts combined."
A combined district would be about 5,700 students, he said.
Tibaldo said the question on consolidation is: What would be the educational advantage to the student?
If one district was too small to provide students with Spanish 4, advanced calculus or an athletic team, consolidation would make sense.
"But neither district is in that position. Both are vibrant, growing districts. I don't see a positive impact for children," Tibaldo said.
Cost cutting
Wozniak said consolidation is an option worth considering .
"We need to look at the number of levels of local government. The enormous layers are very costly," he said.
Across Wisconsin, school districts have found creative ways to share costs.
In West Bend, for example, East and West high schools share the same building complex.
Several small school districts share superintendents. Lake Country and Stone Bank school districts in Waukesha County share one superintendent. The Maple Dale-Indian Hill and Glendale-River Hills school districts in Milwaukee County also share a superintendent, as do the Lake Geneva-Genoa City Union High School and Lake Geneva Joint 1 school districts in Walworth County.
But those districts are much smaller than De Pere and West De Pere, a taxpayers group points out.
Dale Knapp, research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said De Pere and West De Pere districts spend per pupil a little below the statewide average.
Knapp said a study several years ago showed the most efficient size for a school district was between 2,500 and 3,500 students.
"A lot of factors go into whether consolidation makes sense. For districts between 300 and 500 students consolidation certainly would spread out fixed costs," Knapp said.
But in bigger districts that are experiencing growth, "I'm not sure merging is going to have a very big effect," he said.
State sharing
Tony Evers, deputy state superintendent for the Department of Public Instruction, said the state always encourages districts to share costs regardless of tight times.
To that end, the state has a Cooperative Educational Service Agency network that works in partnership with school districts to facilitate change and continuous improvement.
Northeastern Wisconsin is part of CESA 7 district office. The state does not get involved in school boundary or consolidation issues.
"Our goal is to encourage efficiencies and make sure kids get a quality education," Evers said.
Source: League of Women Voters of Greater Green Bay, The De Pere Schools, 1979
History of separation
Schools have existed in De Pere since the early nineteenth century.
In 1847, the town of De Pere (east De Pere) organized its school district and school was held in the courthouse. With statehood in 1848, Wisconsin created a state school fund. The West De Pere School District was organized in that year.
During the industrial boom of the 1870s, both school systems expanded. In 1877 a high school was started in West De Pere, and in 1878 a high school opened in east De Pere.
The tradition of two separate school districts is a long one. In 1890, the city of West De Pere was annexed to the city of De Pere, but the two districts remained separate.
Divided schools
De Pere is not the only city in the state to have separate school systems:
* Fitchburg in Dane County is split into three school districts.
* Parts of the cities of Franklin and Greenfield in southwestern Milwaukee County are in separate school districts.
* Parts of Suamico, Oconto County and Shawano County are in the Pulaski School District.
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