PRESCOTT – At the April 15 Prescott School Board meeting, High School Principal Josh Fiege presented on his work exploring the possibility of a virtual charter school option coming to Prescott.

The district is looking into possibly adding a tuition free, all virtual academy for grades 6-12, currently referred to as River’s Edge Virtual Academy, or REVA.

“The idea is to recruit out-of-district students,” Fiege said. “It could appeal to kids who are currently home-schooled or open enroll out of the district.”

Fiege said that since Covid ended, more students are looking for flexibility. Several Prescott students open enroll out to virtual schools; local examples include Elmwood, which has 25 students, or St. Croix Central, which has 250 students. Both were founded by current Elmwood Supt. Dr. Glenn Webb, from whom Fiege has been gleaning information.

Some districts, like Elmwood, get an influx of $250,000 more in the per pupil funding category from the state because they offer the option, Fiege said.

“We’re also looking to retain our current students, but we’re also looking to recruit more students,” Fiege said. “I think one of the themes we’ve heard tonight, both at the listening session and in some of our numbers, we have lowering enrollment like the majority of Wisconsin districts and we’re not in charge of building more homes, so this is a way that we could recruit more pupils into our district.”

The district is looking at utilizing its existing partnership with EdOptions Academy to provide standards-based curriculum and instruction in an online format. The platform, at a cost of $2,500 per student, provides a student learning management system that offers communication, grade and transcripts tracking, individual learning plan creation, success pacing and coaching. Existing staff could also be used to teach classes and manage learning and communication when schedules allow, which could help save jobs for teachers as enrollment declines, Fiege said.

The state currently requires students to amass 34 credits to graduate, while PSD requires 64. REVA would require 40 credits in order to prepare students adequately for life after high school. The school board would oversee the school’s charter, receiving annual reports on student academic performance, financial performance and management, and any legal liabilities that emerge during the year. Operations would be overseen by a seven-member governance council including school district employees (at least three) and parents or community members. They would have autonomy over daily operations and the budget, Fiege explained.

When state per-pupil aid flows into the district, the district would retain 30% for overhead, administrative services, and special education provisions; 70% would be required to go directly to the charter school’s operational budget.

“It is the way kids are moving,” Board Vice President Tanya Holub said. “I feel like the high school I work at is a college campus. Kids are in and out all day long doing very unique ways of learning.”

The topic will be come back at the May agenda.

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Director of Business Operations Ashley Boe presented the preliminary projected annual budget for the 2026-27 school year. Compensation and benefits comprises the largest portion of PSD’s budget. Key considerations listed were:

• Medical cost increases are projected at 4.6%.
• Future projections estimate 12% medical and 2% dental increases in subsequent years.
• Assumes a 2.5% annual compensation increase beginning in 2027-28.
• Includes a $110,000 reduction at PIS starting in 2027-28 (assumes building stays in district portfolio but is not used for academic purposes).

Her projections, based on the Baird model, did not include additional reductions or budget cuts. At a recent school board workshop, the amounts the board landed on for staff compensation salary increases included:

• 3% for support staff, bus drivers, directors/administration
• 3% for bachelor’s degrees in the certified salary schedule, and 3.63% for master’s degrees
• A $1,000 longevity stipend annually starting in the 11^th year
• Increasing the starting base salary for BA’s and support staff by 1.5% and MA’s by 2%

Board Clerk Pat Block described the numbers as “comfortably uncomfortable,” thanks to lack of adequate funding from the state, but said the budget provides the staff compensation the board promised. The board has been working to make pay in Prescott more competitive with other area schools in order to recruit and retain quality staff.

If state funding models do not change in the next biennium, a deficit of $311,540 is projected at the end of 2026-27, $1,025,128 at the end of 2027-28 and $1,663,634 at the end of 2028-29, leaving the fund balance at $2,827,998 (or 14%), which is below board policy’s required 20%. To cover these deficits, the board would have to dip into its fund balance.

“None of this is possible without the support of the community in the 2024 referendum,” Board President Mike Matzek said. “We’ve been working on this for years, trying to close the gap by increasing the pay across the board.”

The board is also considering offering a $1,000 stipend to longtime PSD employees annually once they complete their 10^th year in the district.

The goal was to use referendum dollars to get to the end of the 2028-29 year. The projected budget will continue to be discussed and tweaked at upcoming meetings.

Academic & career planning

As part of the Academic and Career Planning report, Director of Teaching & Learning Michael Kosmolski listed apprenticeships students have in the community, which require 450 paid hours, employer evaluations and more. The program has been such a success that CESA 11 would like to use it as an example to inspire other academic and career planning programs, he reported.

Participating businesses include Ptacek’s, Caribou Coffee, Fiedler Farms, Clifton Hollow Golf Club, WESTconsin Credit Union, Prescott Nursing & Rehabilitation, The Sycamore in River Falls, Cernohous Chevrolet, Hastings Ford, Muddy Waters, Foley, Heart, Hands & Minds, New Adventures Learning Center, Subway, Dairy Queen, Kaufhold’s Kurds and Walmart. Thirty students currently have apprenticeships in the community.

Students and families have also saved about $1.1 million in college tuition costs thanks to CVTC’s dual enrollment transcripted program with PSD, $1 million from AP class scores (allowing them to test into higher college classes) and $315,000 from UW-River Falls since 2018.

Other business

• During public comment, retired Supt. Roger Hulne asked the board to think carefully about grade configurations while considering building consolidation. “The longer you can keep kids in the elementary school, the better off you are,” he said. He believes if looked at closely, Malone could serve K-4 and the middle school could serve grades 5-8 comfortably, which in his opinion, is a better makeup instructionally.
• Reif honored bus driver Gary Hartung as this month’s Cardinal Champion, describing him as tender-hearted and caring as he drives the bus every day. “He is extremely dependable with seldom a day off for anything,” Reif said. “Gary is the most compassionate person. He is a constant caregiver. He loves the children and thinks of them as his own. There isn’t a route change or task he hasn’t been willing to take on; the route he drives is an everyday revolving door.”
• The board applauded 18 students who went to State for Forensics April 18 and 19: Kyra Dix, Cara Fiedler, Kassidy Hanson, Payge Haupt, Violet Henderson, Lilly Hillebrand, Brooklyn Huppert, Nola Kiefer, Leia Most, Sophie Perez, Ayla Peterson, Riley Renteria, Delilah Russo, Claire Schmitz, Emma Schmitz, Claire Schultz, Abby Stubbe, Tylar Whaley and Coach Ally Pasiuk.
• The board approved the following personnel changes: Retirement: Dianna Morth, special education teacher; resignation: Rylee Green, special education teacher; hire: Tim Skog, Malone evening custodian.
• The board gratefully accepted an anonymous donation from a couple for $10,000 who want to inspire kids to be innovative and provide them with experiences that inspire them to dream. Four $1,000 awards will go to teachers who think outside the box (selected by building admins). Another $6,000 has been set aside to be used for student experiences such as field trips or fees for kids who otherwise couldn’t afford them.
• The board also accepted a donation of $6,740 worth of lumber for the tech ed program from alum Harley Hotchkiss of Premium Plots. He is a longtime supporter of R5 Manufacturing.
• The board heard from Buildings & Grounds Supervisor Mike Hoikka that the R5 Manufacturing shed should come in under the estimated $125,000 budget.