Parents and advocates warn of staffing cuts and retention crisis as board considers budget-driven schedule changes

Public commenters at the Wauwatosa School Board's March 9 meeting urged the district to preserve classroom staff and be transparent about staffing data as the board weighs schedule and budget changes.

Heather Burke, a parent and local education advocate, said teachers at the district’s high school were told an extra seven minutes per day will be added next year so two additional professional development days can be scheduled and that administrators have proposed staffing cuts at West that could eliminate as many as 25 teaching positions across the two high schools. Burke said schedule changes have been presented as a pedagogical shift toward deeper learning but that staff were told the ultimate goal was cost savings. "You are bankrupting our schools and passing the bill to our teachers," she said, and asked the board to "give our teachers a real voice at the table" and to comb the budget to retain student-facing staff.

Chris Murker, a parent and candidate for the Wauwatosa school board, said his analysis of Wisconsin DPI data shows a multi-year problem in teacher continuity. He told the board that Wauwatosa’s four-year retention rate is about 57% at the elementary level (compared with 76% in Elbrook) and about 51% at the secondary level (compared with 74% in Elbrook), and said those patterns mean the district has lost roughly half of its secondary teachers over the last four years. Murker said the district’s single-year retention talking points do not rebut a sustained multi-year decline and asked for fuller methodological disclosure from the district.

Rita Wisneski, identified as a Wauwatosa resident and the Wisconsin PTA treasurer and Wauwatosa Council of PTAs president, thanked the board’s legislative advocacy committee for drafting a resolution to support litigation against the State Assembly and said the legislature’s underfunding of public education has created inequities. She encouraged constituents to press legislators for full funding while noting that litigation should catalyze—not replace—legislative action.

Board members did not take immediate action on these public comments but used the consent and separate agenda items later in the meeting to approve several budget- and procurement-related items. Several board members said they wanted clearer district disclosure on staffing measures and methodology before relying on one-year retention figures to characterize workforce stability.