Support Our Schools - SOS Wauwatosa

A great opportunity to learn more about school funding! 🍎📏✅

What are the reasons and goals for increased funding to school districts in Wisconsin? How will this affect Wauwatosa when referendum questions related to this are on the November ballot? This Sunday at 11:00 A.M., Dr. Demond Means, Superintendent of Wauwatosa Public Schools, will deliver a data-driven presentation on how public school funding affects our community and the entire state.

The event is open to the public with a Q&A session.

Be an informed voter this fall! In this brief video, Dr. Means describes the potential impact of a Yes versus No referenda vote on our schools.

A Few Minutes With Dr Means July 2024 Wauwatosa School District12121 W. North AvenueWauwatosa, WI 53226

Episode 2 dropped yesterday! This is an invaluable resource for our community. Tune in to learn more about the difference between recurring and non-recurring referendum, the community impact of passing an operational referendum, and to gain insight into the burden inadequate state funding places on local taxpayers. Feel free to share thoughts and questions in the comments!

https://www.derekgottliebphd.com/podcasts

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-referenda/id1754612543

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/16FUUDsZ9jd8scGQGTqhcB?si=8d2f4de4d70f4286

iheartradio:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-referenda-190201025/

Highlighting local school funding efforts! Check out the link below if you'd like to learn more or get involved! 🍎📏✅

Thanks to for sharing this story & clip of our Summer Launch event on Monday.

Did you miss the event? You can still find out more about the referenda, sign up as a volunteer, and get your own swag at https://www.yestotosakids.org/get-involved/

⁉️ If you've been confused about why in the world we need to go to referendum again, how the tax impact is actually calculated, or what terms like "revenue limit" and "negative tertiary aid" mean, we strongly encourage you take a listen to this podcast!

Click on a link below to listen to "The Referenda," created by a Tosa parent and education policy expert. In our opinion, this has been the most useful, user-friendly resource of late to grasp the complexities of how we got here and why we are in desperate need of state-level advocacy for fair school funding. Please take a listen, and be sure post any comments or questions below.

Spotify-
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0QP3wVSFOBNau23fVs4tuM...

Amazon Music-
https://music.amazon.com/.../1894b1df-25c0-4238-b9a7...

Apple Podcasts-
https://podcasts.apple.com/.../the-referenda/id1754612543

Wondering how the school referenda might affect your tax bill? Check out the new calculator just posted on the school district's Tosa 2075 page. Also, make sure you're considering your home's assessed value and not Zillow. For a home assessed at $350K, voting Yes to both questions will increase your annual property taxes by $735, or about $14 a week. We think that's a bargain for strong schools, excellent educators, and functional facilities. See the comments for calculator links.

Last night, the Wauwatosa School Board set the referendum questions for this fall's ballot:

1) $64.4M over four years to fund district operations, including:

🍎$52.4M to cover the operational shortfall for the 2025-26, 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29 school years (the district will use its fund balance to cover the gap for the 2024-25 school year)
🍎$8M to increase educator compensation
🍎$4M for curricular materials

2) $60M over 20 years for facilities needs, including:
🍎Addressing deferred maintenance at Eisenhower, Madison, Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Washington Elementary Schools and Montessori/Fisher
🍎Facility upgrades to ensure that Eisenhower, Madison, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Washington, Montessori/Fisher, Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa West meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) facilities standards

SOS will continue to fight for the state funding our kids and educators deserve, but in the meantime, we hope the Tosa community will step up to provide the resources our public schools need now. See the comments for a news clip from last night's board meeting, and follow Yes To Tosa Kids for more information and resources in the months ahead.

Did you hear the news?

The Wauwatosa School Board just voted to put two referenda on the fall ballot. Voters will weigh in on two questions: an operations referendum of $64.4M over four years, and a facilities referendum of $60M over 20 years. We're already excited to say Yes! to Tosa Kids!

Learn more, get involved and donate today: www.yestotosakids.org

Deep breath… ❤️
Change is hard, and it can be scary. It can also bring beautiful growth, and opportunities that would not have been otherwise available.

Many of you have seen the Wauwatosa School District recommendations that were shared over the past 24 hours. There are some big changes being recommended.

Please remember that these are recommendations, not final decisions. They will be dependent on school board votes, and also the passage of several referenda over the next few years. There will still be opportunities for engagement and feedback.

Here are a few important highlights of the district recommendations-

-A shift to a JK-6/7-12 model (this would be dependent on the passage of a facilities referendum in Nov 2026, and the model would then be constructed and implemented after that)

-A $48.4 million operating referendum over 4 years to keep staffing and programming at current levels, on the November 2024 ballot.

-A $60 million facilities referendum over 20 years to address ADA compliance and deferred maintenance at the elementary and high schools, on the November 2024 ballot.

-Merge MSTEM and USTEM into their school building general population, and integrate STEM specific programming into elementary and middle school curriculum for all students.

We encourage you to watch the video linked in the comments for more details and a complete overview of the district recommendations.

We will continue to keep you updated with opportunities to learn more, give feedback, and ask questions, as they become available.

We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions below. As always, please be gentle with yourselves, and others. 💕

Tosa 2075 Administrative Recommendations Tosa 2075 Administrative Recommendations The following recommendations are intentionally packaged together by Wauwatosa School District administrators and delivered holistically to the Wauwatosa Board of Education. The intersections of these recommendations are critical to the overarching, co...

Congratulations to students in the LAUNCH program on Signing Day!! 💫

What a wonderful example of the type of collaborative and innovative programming that exists within the WSD to give all students opportunities to find their passions and be successful!

Special shoutout to Mr. Griffie for running this program and being such an amazing educator and bright spot in the lives of so many students! 💖

Wauwatosa area apprentices celebrate trades signing day Wauwatosa and Brookfield area high school students celebrated the next step in their trades careers with contractors such as Findorff and Mortenson.

🌟Did you know….

✔️The WSD annual budget is set & adopted through a series of public meetings each year.
✔️A 3rd party financial audit of the WSD is completed annually and shared with the community.

Attend the Annual Budget Meeting this evening at Longfellow to learn more! 🌟

The District welcomes all community members to Longfellow Middle School tonight, from 6-8 pm for our annual community budget meeting.

Note the location changes for the upcoming engagement sessions to ensure ADA accessibility.

The Task Force Final Report has been released!

Thank you to all Task Force members in the community who dedicated their time and talents to participate in this work over the past year! ❤️

The Task Force presentation to the school board will take place at an inservice on June 3rd. The public is invited to attend, but public comment will not be taken, apart from Task Force members. The inservice will be recorded and shared with the community.

What do you think about these 7 themes that were identified by the Task Force as “most critical”? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

✅ The school district survey results are in, with 42% of residents indicating support for an operating referendum that would provide $21 million a year for five years (link to full results in comments).

✅ The 2075 Task Force is wrapping up its work, including its exploration of two models that would make significant changes to the configuration of Tosa schools (a JK-6/7-12 model and merging the East and West secondary schools- link in comments)

👂🏼Now the Wauwatosa School Board will host a series of community listening sessions to gather additional feedback on how the district should address the challenges ahead.

👉🏼Join the conversation and share your thoughts and ideas:
Monday, May 20 at 6 p.m. in the Longfellow Middle School cafeteria
Tuesday, May 28 at 6 p.m. in the Madison Elementary School cafeteria
Wednesday, June 5 at 6 p.m. in the Whitman Middle School cafeteria

Enter through the main school doors and follow the signs to the cafeteria. Childcare is available upon request.

‼️ Attention families of 4 year olds! ‼️ It's time to enroll your child for 2024-2025 Junior Kindergarten. Please follow this link to enroll: https://www.wauwatosa.k12.wi.us/o/wsd/page/enrollment and learn about before and after school care options here: https://www.wauwatosa.k12.wi.us/page/before-and-after-school-care

🍎✂️🖍 Our JK teachers are warm and dedicated--share a shout out in the comments below! 🍎✂️🖍

This Journal Sentinel article provides a practical example of why state funding matters. If the state would have fully funded special education services, Wisconsin school districts could already have over 60% of the funding sought in spring referendums.

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As we wrap up 🍎Teacher Appreciation Week 🍎, we want to give a shout out to all of the AMAZING teachers & staff in the WSD! We love you, we appreciate you, and we will continue to advocate for you! ❤️

‼️ Attention new students & families with future junior/senior kindergartners! ‼️

Enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year is happening now. It's helpful to have accurate counts as early as possible for school planning, so make sure to register your new student ASAP!

Follow this link to register: https://www.wauwatosa.k12.wi.us/o/wsd/page/enrollment

Please plan to join one of these upcoming opportunities to share your thoughts about the future of the WSD!
Engagement + collaboration = positive outcomes for our students & community.

SAVE THE DATE! The Wauwatosa Board of Education will be hosting a series of Listening + Engagement Sessions in May and early June. 🗓️

Learn about important topics like transportation, academics, finances, facilities, and the Tosa 2075 Task Force. Then, share your perspectives with members of the Board of Education.

This is your chance to connect with your board representatives, ask questions, and provide input and feedback! Childcare will be provided at each event and interpreter services are available.

Exciting day for students all across the WSD as they got outside to experience the solar eclipse! 🌒😎

"The science team took advantage of this coming along, and did a bunch of mini-lessons on why it's important, how rare it is, why we should be excited," Longfellow Principal Seth Larson explained.”

Wauwatosa middle schoolers experience partial solar eclipse Hundreds of students at Longfellow Middle School stepped outside the classroom Monday to see the eclipse.

Don't miss your chance to share your thoughts on facilities, open enrollment, and budget!

91 Wisconsin communities have school district referenda on their ballots today. Wherever you live, don’t forget to vote today!
🍎❤️

#VotePublic Election HQ BE A VOTER REFERENDA SCHOOL BOARD Learn more about referenda and election support offered by WPEN here! Join us for our 2024 Spring Organizing Virtual Workshops! Learn more and register at Wisconsi…

Don't forget to complete your community survey by Friday!

📆 Plan ahead to attend a budget info presentation at Jefferson Elementary School on April 3rd, 6 pm

Also for your reference, a recording of a previous budget presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yc6PxndEa2Bs7Y2zr7WL_KG9XmuNOwTF/view

📬 Waiting for your paper copy of the WSD Community Survey? 📬 It's on its way!

We learned that the organization managing the survey, School Perceptions, mailed them on March 13th. If you have not received your paper survey by tomorrow, March 21st, please contact Julia Summers with questions: [email protected] or (414-773-1010).

Tosa residents: you have a very important opportunity to provide the school district feedback on budget, open enrollment, and school operations via the WSD Community Survey.
If you receive emails from the district, you should receive a survey link with a unique, one-time use code. It is our understanding that paper copies will also be mailed to households if you prefer that option.
➡️If you need assistance with survey access, please contact Ms. Summers in the district office (414-773-1010, [email protected]).

Online discussion is great, but here is your chance to advocate for your priorities directly. Thanks for being engaged!

‼️ Surveys are due April 5, 2024‼️

The last of 5 Task Force briefs focuses on policies.

The full brief can be found via the link below, and we encourage everyone to read it in its entirety.

SOS has created this graphic to highlight key points of the brief, and the essential questions that the Task Force & community is being asked to consider.

We’d love to hear your feedback below!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HI4_BXaY4vb1cfJ9_CpzNAjy3xAPGSI-6ktWEokY4uU/edit

This presentation includes lots of important information about the future of the WSD! Please attend if you can. 😁

Join us tomorrow for an important engagement session on budgeting and facility planning. We’ll discuss our school system's budgeting process, financial challenges, and the state of our educational facilities. Your input matters! 📢

Thank you Rep Vining & Senator Roys for hearing our voices and advocating for our schools! ❤️

Dear Wauwatosa parents and kids, Senator Kelda Roys and I have received your postcards at the Wisconsin State Capitol!
🍎
Every child in Wisconsin has a constitutional right to an adequately funded public education, and Senator Roys and I are going to keep fighting to defend that right! We introduced the Save Our Schools bill because we love you, and our public schools!🍎 Please keep sending us postcards! We love to hear from you!

Support Our Schools - SOS Wauwatosa Save Tosa Schools