The Wauwatosa School District released updated cost estimates for the five options currently being discussed by the Secondary Schools Ad Hoc Committee for reconfiguring and renovating the city's four high school and middle school buildings.
The Ad Hoc Committee, made up of a mix of about two dozen volunteer parents, taxpayers and school officials, is spending its weekly meetings this month conducting small group discussions about the potential impact of each of those five options and is scheduled to recommend one to the school board for consideration in January.
To assist in the committee's deliberations, it is working with district officials to finalize a community survey that will be released soon seeking public input on the various models, which range from keeping the school configuration mostly as it is to more disruptive plans that could consolidate the high schools or middle schools or both.
The school district initially presented the committee with seven possible options, each with cost estimates attached. Committee members later proposed three additional models. Those 10 were narrowed down to the remaining five at meetings in late September and early October.
Tosa Forward News previously summarized those five options here.
The graphic above (click to enlarge) contains the updated cost comparison of the remaining five options. It was produced following a "comprehensive review" conducted by Findorff, the district's construction manager.
"The current estimates are based on the most current market conditions (2025)," the district said on its website. "Estimates are based on current 2025 costing and do not include inflation or cost escalation."
Additional info on the school district's committee review process can be found here.
Since the committee was appointed in May, its members have toured the district’s four secondary schools as well as schools in several other districts around Wisconsin to compare different educational facility models. They also heard presentations in September from Wauwatosa School District department heads offering their recommendations based on a variety of factors, including maintenance advantages, staffing efficiencies, students’ social-emotional learning, academic benefits and budget impact.
Some members have said they can’t ignore that Wauwatosa voters may be feeling referendum “fatigue.” A $125 million capital referendum passed in 2018 allowing the district to rebuild four elementary schools and make more modest improvements to other buildings. Then in November 2024, voters endorsed both a $60 million capital referendum and a $64.4 million operational referendum. The most recent capital referendum was only intended to address deferred maintenance at the district’s elementary schools and accessibility at all schools.
One goal of the latest deliberations is to resolve the last of the district's deferred maintenance at Tosa West and Tosa East high schools and Longfellow and Whitman middle schools. And with district-wide enrollment expected to decline in the coming years, administrators are looking for ways to decrease the district's building footprint and lower future maintenance costs while still providing students with exemplary educational programs.
