508-701 Declining Enrollment: Strategic Planning for School Districts

Schedule:

• April 20, 2026: 8:00 am - 3:00 pm CT

Price:

• $500/team up to 4 

• $195 individual registrations or additional team members

Please know that Group Pricing will be applied at the time of billing, but everyone from your team will need to register individually. Select "pay later" at the end of registration.

Content Questions: Jason Demerath (jason.demerath@cesa2.org); Courtney Rounds (crounds@cesa3.org)

Registration Questions: events@cesa2.org

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About this event: This workshop brings together superintendents, business managers, and instructional leaders to explore statewide budget impacts and population trends, and engage in planning for future enrollment projections. Through collaboration with peers from districts of different sizes, participants will consider strategies for programming, staffing, and financial planning, and leave with practical tools and protocols to guide decision-making in their own districts.

Preparing for Declining Enrollment, Financially and Programmatically:

- Strategically planning for it

- Working together to create and invest in programming aligned to your strategic goals considering your limited resources
- Identify programming that should be considered for strategic abandonment, allowing student need to drive decisions considering your limited resources

What Will Be Covered:

- State and Federal Budget

- Population Trends

- Implication of Timelines & Data Information

- Job Alike Roundtables

What to Bring:

- Your Team of K-12 Senior Leadership, including the superintendent, business manager, director of teaching & learning

- Enrollment projections (at least five years)

- High school department - student course registration numbers

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About the Presenters:

Anne Chapman, WASBO's Research Director: As research director at the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials, Anne Chapman leads WASBO’s mission to ensure equity and outstanding educational opportunities for Wisconsin students through nonpartisan policy research, analysis, and advocacy. Her research on K-12 education focuses on general state and local policy and finance, school referendums, special education funding, the educator workforce, school choice, enrollment trends, and other topics.

Sarah Kemp, Retired Researcher with UW-Madison's Applied Population Lab: Sarah Kemp has been a researcher for UW-Madison’s Applied Population Laboratory for the last twenty years. Her work has focused primarily on enrollment projections modeling. Sarah has worked with Wisconsin school districts, projecting student enrollments, examining the impact of boundary changes, and evaluating the impact of housing on student enrollment. Her current and past research includes examining rural school issues, redistricting, comprehensive planning, and changing state demographics.

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