GOP bills to boost school district consolidation support come amid enrollment decline
As GOP lawmakers advance legislation to encourage school districts to merge amid declining birth rates in Wisconsin, education stakeholders say districts considering consolidation could use extra support.
The state’s population is projected to drop by nearly 200,000 by 2050, and those backing the legislation have cited the projection to argue maintaining 421 school districts is unsustainable. According to the Department of Public Instruction, more than two-thirds of the state’s districts show declining enrollment and more than half of the districts across the state serve fewer than 1,000 students.
Despite declining enrollment, only five school district consolidations have occurred over the past 20 years. The most recent was in 2018, when the Friess Lake School District and Richfield Joint School District No. 1 joined to create the Holy Hill Area School District in Washington County.
Tara Villalobos served as administrator of the Richfield district in 2018, and stayed on at the consolidated Holy Hill Area School District until 2023. Legislators began proposing the current $150 per-pupil support for consolidating districts around the same time Richfield and Friess Lake decided to consolidate.
https://www.wispolitics.com/2025/gop-bills-to-boost-school-district-consolidation-support-come-amid-enrollment-decline/