RIVER FALLS — The School District of River Falls is in the early stages of creating its 2028-33 strategic plan. The Board of Education was presented with the coming steps and ways for the community to have their voices heard at the Oct. 28 meeting.

There will be three phases in the creation of the plan: listen, learn and assess; strategy development; and review and final approval. To get involved with the initial phase, there are two more coffee with the superintendent events on Nov. 11 and Dec. 2. at 7 a.m. in the district office. There is also a community survey that was recently distributed to residents. There will be community listening sessions in the district Dec. 10.

“I’ve attempted to get myself onto booster club, and PTO and other community group schedules to share with them the process of our strategic plan update as well as listening to feedback,” Superintendent David Bell said. “All of that information will funnel into the strategic plan committee, and that committee will take time over multiple sessions to look at all of that information with facilitation. Take a whole bunch of data and summarize that into five goals or pillars, and then those will come to the school board for final approval.”

Final approval is tracking for the spring, which would allow for implementation at the beginning of the next school year.

The board made the official approval of the budget and levy for the 2026-27 year. The item was discussed at length at the previous meetings and the Sept. 28 annual meeting, but the approval had to wait until a few final numbers were solidified. Those numbers are in now, with district student count at 3,316, down 64 from a year ago. Open enrollment totals are now a net positive of 30, with River Falls losing 11 students a year ago.

“We bring in more people from Minnesota than what we lose to Minnesota. That’s a really important datapoint for us being as close to Minnesota as we are,” Director of Human Resources and Leadership Development, Title IX Coordinator Nate Schurman said. “Part of that retention, I think, goes to tangible efforts we’ve made as a district to have competitive wages, to continue to offer raises, to look at things like longevity stipends for staff and having a strong benefit program. Those tangible things, but there’s also the cultural elements that are a big part of why people want to come here and stay.”

The district is presenting a 6.61 mill rate and a $28,673,746 total levy. That number is slightly down from what was presented in September, which was a 6.64 mill rate and $28.71 million levy. In 2025-26, the mill rate was 6.89 and the levy was $27.32 million.

Updates were provided regarding the Wildly Important Goals (WIG) for the elementary and special education students. The elementary WIG is that “100% of students will be proficient or exceed their yearly growth goal in foundational reading skills as measured by the grade level screening assessment by Spring of 2027.”

The fall 2026 numbers show 98% of kindergarteners, 99% of first grade students, 84% of second graders, 90% of third graders, 92% of fourth graders and 88% of fifth graders are proficient. The presenters mentioned they saw a bit of a dip in proficiency during the winter last year because of the test becoming more difficult, so they are keeping that in mind as the 2026-27 year progresses.

For special education, the Wildly Important Goal is “80% of Special Education Students will show above average growth (Student Growth Percentile of > 50th), or demonstrative Average Proficiency on universal Reading screeners, based on Fall to Spring Screening Measures.”

River Falls has tracked the proficiency in the fall, with the growth and proficiency to be tracked in the spring to see where the students are at.

The Rocky Branch kitchen staff and talented and gifted program teacher Abby Mazzei were awarded Wildcat Pride Awards for going above and beyond in their work.

During public comment, community member Jacqueline Niccum spoke on the current state of education. Niccum cited the Progressive Education Association’s message relayed through a video called “The Assassination of Independent Thinking.”

“That organization decided that the education system in this country needed to be changed from teaching thinkers to providing learners. Factories needed workers that would be content doing what they were told. Learners would be content in doing repetitious jobs,” Niccum said. “So, the education system was changed, and testing no longer focused on debate or essay questions, but rather on fill in the blank, yes or no or multiple choice answers.”

Niccum said Gov. Tony Evers’ education department lowered standards, and that at a booth hosted at the Pierce County Fair, homeschooled children were more confident and successful in answering civics questions.

“With the continued increase of education costs, why aren’t we getting better results,” Niccum said.