News Detail

During a working meeting of the MTSD Board of Education on Monday, December 4, two co-chairs from the District’s 2023 Community Task Force presented the task force’s recommendation for mitigating budget shortfalls. The Community Task Force was convened in October following a charge from the MTSD Board of Education to evaluate the top alternatives from a recent analytical process and suggest prioritized revenue-generating solutions for current and future budget deficits. The Task Force was comprised of eleven individuals representing a diverse range of perspectives related to the school district and community and was co-chaired by MTSD parents and local business professionals, Joe Nelson and Katie Ott. 

The Community Task Force came together for four meetings over the course of six weeks and worked with external facilitators from the Donovan Group, a school communications and engagement firm, to draft and complete a final report and recommendation for the Board of Education. During the final Task Force meeting on Tuesday, November 28, the report was finalized with unanimous approval from Task Force members.

On Monday evening, co-chairs Nelson and Ott presented the Board with the recommendation of pursuing a November 2024 operating referendum as part of a “bundled approach” combining the three potential solutions outlined in the Board’s charge; philanthropic giving and continued exploration of reducing expenses while using Fund 46/Fund Balance, or the District’s “cash on hand,” if needed. As it relates to a recurring versus a non-recurring referendum, the Task Force favored a non-recurring referendum. 

During the presentation, co-chair Joe Nelson noted that the Task Force “did not relish the idea of going to an operating referendum” but that it appeared to be the only realistic option given the scope of the Board’s charge and the challenging timeframe. 

“As we considered the bundled approach, the timing of the deployment of each of those strategies was really what became important to us,” added co-chair Katie Ott, “Short-term use of the Fund Balance we felt would be okay, long-term deployment of a philanthropic giving campaign could be fantastic, but probably won’t happen overnight; and we certainly don’t want to duplicate the efforts of the Mequon-Thiensville Education Foundation. So that really left us with, in order to effectively and immediately-ish address the budget needs, that leaves us with a referendum - within the scope that we have been charged with.”

In addition to the recommendation presented in alignment with the Board’s formal charge, the Task Force noted three additional “parking lot” items that the Board should consider as additional recommendations. Those items included managing outflows and reducing operating expenses, continued advocacy related to public school funding in Wisconsin, and robust communication of cost containment measures that the District has implemented over the last five years.

As a next step, the Board will continue discussions regarding the recommendation of the Community Task Force and additional school budget considerations at their regular business meeting scheduled for Monday, December 18 at 6:00 p.m. in the Range Line Community Center Conference Room. All Community Task Force meeting minutes and a video recording of the recommendation presentation can be viewed at www.mtsd.k12.wi.us/task-force. 

MTSD encourages members of the community to follow the work of the MTSD Board of Education and administration by attending Board meetings, reviewing news posts on the MTSD website, and taking note of periodic mailed updates from the District. Learn more and view the Board of Education meeting schedule at: www.mtsd.k12.wi.us/board