07-05-2025
ECASD looks at how declining enrollment affects district staffing
EAU CLAIRE — During a period of declining enrollment, the Eau Claire Area School District is looking at how fewer students can have an impact on staffing levels.
ECASD is not alone in facing declining enrollment, as it has become common issue across many other school districts. Michelle Golden, the executive director of human resources, stated that maintaining a balance between staff and students requires consistent monitoring as their students progress through grade levels in the school district.
'As we have navigated through this period of budget deficits and declining enrollment rates, it has become necessary to make some very difficult decisions regarding staffing reductions,' she said at a meeting on Monday night. 'These decisions are never easy, but they are crucial for the long term financial sustainability of our district. Our foremost priority remains maintaining a high quality of education that we provide and honor our results policies despite these challenges.'
In talking with members of the board, information provided serves as a means to update them on the process of staffing in the district.
'Instead of 60 kids coming into kindergarten, you have now 50,' she said. 'Instead of having three classrooms of 20, you have two of 25.
'We have a reduction in staff because of the staff student ratio. We just have to keep monitoring all of the time to see where our class sizes are at so we can either decrease or increase based on the numbers we have on hand.'
It can be a complex thing because looking at some data regarding district staffing may only give point-in-time information.
It also does not mean that the district is letting people go or that people are losing their jobs; rather, it indicates that the district may have to reevaluate their class sizes and student staff ratios to stay on budget.
Currently, the student staff ratios of the elementary school are one teacher to every 22 students, give or take three students, for grades K-3 and one teacher to every 25 students, give or take four students, for grades 4-5. In middle school those ratios are one teacher to every 27 students, give or take five students, and in high school it is one teacher to every 30 students, give or take six students.
Board member Stephanie Farrar said, 'That 25 in kindergarten is a tricky number, and I just wonder if there are opportunities to add support staff to assist teachers in those classrooms.'
Golden said it is something that they do monitor. But they do try to staff within those numbers fairly strictly, specifically because of the budget.
Board member Erica Zerr also asked about evaluating the needs of each school, or if there is a way to be more equitable with staffing at schools.
On top of looking at how those ratios would effect grade sizes, Golden said, 'Principals, we are allowing them to say, 'we have a high number of behaviors, or special education, or ELL (English language learners) in this grade, so I am going to decrease the staffing here and increase it here because I know this is where the needs are.''
