By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
With declining enrollment and aging buildings making an impact, the Burlington Area School District is starting to develop a long-range plan for its facilities.
The first of three planning firms made its presentation Monday night, as the Scherrer-Nexus Group returned to offer a broader scope on planning for the district.
BASD Superintendent Peter Smet confirmed Tuesday that at least two other groups would make presentations.
“That was one company,” said Smet. The Peter Scherrer Group will be there next Monday, and then the Wisconsin Association of School Board will do a presentation on July 21.
The Long-Range Planning Committee will then make a recommendation to the full board as to which company would be the best to do a long-range facilities plan for the district.
“We learned about their planning process, and what they utilize and how they do it,” Smet said of the Scherrer/Nexus group. “They are a very competent firm.
“All the groups coming in are very competent firms.”
Smet said this is the first time in 25 years that the district has looked at a long-range plan such as this. When the last one was done, it addressed everything from which schools would hold which grades and how many schools were needed.
“At that time, we made decisions to have the four elementary schools kindergarten through fourth grade, a 5-6 intermediate school and a 7-8 middle and then a 9-12 high school,” Smet said. “That’s what we will be studying.
“We will studying how many students we have and where they will be coming from,” he added. “We have to look at our grade configuration, and how best to house the students that we will have, and we will have any facility changes that may be needed at that time.”
Scherrer-Nexus, led by Mike David, has been on the district radar for about the last year, as it made a pitch to set up the facilities plan for the district. The School Board initially turned down the company after a preliminary survey of the facilities, but wanted to come back to Scherrer-Nexus in order to address enrollment, demographics and facilities in one, overarching study.
The only thing Scherrer-Nexus would not do was a demographics study, but David said the company would be happy to recommend a company.
At the heart of the presentation, though, was the acknowledgement that the district would have to make fact-based decisions – especially if the district was looking at closing a school.
“Take the emotion out of it,” David said. “You’re not the first district to face these challenges. These are all things that can be addressed.”
David said a long-range plan would also help the district recognize savings in terms of operation and maintenance. Scherrer-Nexus again would provide a detailed study, with a number of different projects to realize savings, but the district would have to perform at least one project or face a walk-away free (capped at about $50,000).
David also pointed out one other fact about the district. He said that the district was about 13 percent below average for taxes, and while there was room for the district to address needs through taxes, he felt the company could save the district about $500,000 at a conservative guess.
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Keep talking about raising taxes and you will see continued loss of students. The BASD milking of the taxpayer is one of the BIG reasons for people leaving or not moving into Burlington. This is a small town and doesn’t need the fanciest facilities or newest buildings. While there are quite a few who have money to burn here, many of us are living check-to-check and EVERY little tax increase is another nail in the coffin for hard working families.
I’m not sure the article mentioned anything about raising taxes. I do believe it mentioned saving the district money, so I’m not sure what is to complain about there.
Also, everything I’ve seen is that BASD taxes are actually lower on average than surrounding areas. My suggestion to you ham, is if you are so offended about your taxes that you feel the need to comment about taxes under an article that has nothing to do with taxes, is to move somewhere else.
“..pointed out one other fact about the district. He said that the district was about 13 percent below average for taxes, and while there was room for the district to address needs through taxes…”
Actually, if you read the last paragraph it does mention taxes. I don’t think the Scherrer-Nexus representative, Mr. David, is talking about lowering taxes. Ham, I would follow Voice of Progressivism’s advice and move on. I plan on moving out of Burlington within the year. Good Luck to All!
“David also pointed out one other fact about the district. He said that the district was about 13 percent below average for taxes, and while there was room for the district to address needs through taxes..” That’s this Dave guy’s opinion not the voice of the board. He did however confirm what folks have said all along. Burlington school taxes are lower than elsewhere. Wherever you guys are moving to….good luck. Hope you find as good a deal as you are getting here.