WESTFIELD - In order to help balance the school's budget, the Westfield Area School District is considering closing Neshkoro Elementary and sending its students to neighboring Westfield Elementary next year.

Neshkoro Elementary, in the northeast corner of Marquette County, currently has a kindergarten through sixth-grade enrollment of 61 students. The school's current enrollment is causing the school district to lose about $85,300 a year. The district's three other elementary schools - Coloma, Oxford and Westfield - are all currently operating in the black. Coloma Elementary currently has an enrollment of 116 pupils, Oxford has 111 and Westfield has 373.

The Westfield School Board discussed the possibility of closing Neshkoro Elementary on Tuesday during a special meeting at Westfield Area High School. No action was taken by the board on the issue Tuesday.

Many parents and stakeholders from the Neshkoro community filled the high school lunchroom, fighting to keep their school open. Closing the school is just the start of discussions amongst school board members on how the school district is going to balance its budget in the coming years.Brian Walters, business manager, projects the district's budget deficit to be about $348,000 at the end of this school year. According to projections by Walters, that were shared with the public Tuesday, Westfield's deficit would increase to about $749,000 following the end of the 2010-2011 school year if no cuts or changes are made.

"This meeting is not about closing a school," said Roger Schmidt, district administrator. "It's about dealing with a problem that's not going to go away."

Closing Neshkoro would help the district save about $286,000 over the next year. This savings would be used to help the district reduce its deficit and to help the school district use less of its fund balance to pay its bills in the coming years.

Most of this projected savings is from cutting two elementary teacher positions (about $100,000), the school district would no longer need. A savings of about $85,000 would be made in eliminating all of Neshkoro's support staff.

Schmidt said the district has already cut more than $1.3 million from its budget over the last six years and is looking at all possible options on how to reduce its spending in the coming years.

"We don't want to cut fine arts, but what's next?" Schmidt said.

However, closing Neshkoro would not solve all of the district's long-term budget woes. Even with a potential closure of Neshkoro next school year, the district would still be looking at a deficit of more than $460,000 following the 2010-2011 school year.

"We could be looking at closing Oxford or Coloma the next year," Walters said.

Walters said Neshkoro is the only elementary being discussed right now because it is the only facility that is currently losing the district money.

While the school board did not take any formal action Tuesday, several members suggested that the board research the possibility of a future school referendum instead of closing any schools. The school referendum, which would have to be approved by all municipalities within the school district in order to pass, could happen as soon as next year.

"It's not necessarily about closing Neshkoro Elementary," said Dan Semrow, board member. "It's about you being willing to pay more tax money. A referendum is essential to keep all schools open."

School board members Gerald Hebert II and Shirley Floeter said they also support a school referendum.

A future school referendum will be discussed by the school board at its next meeting on Nov. 18. At this time the board will also look at consolidating with another district, cutting staff positions, eliminating programs, closing other buildings or continuing to use up the school's fund balance as options in helping to balance the school's budget next year and beyond.

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