GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Community members packed the Green Bay Board of Education meeting Monday night to make it clear that they don’t want any future budget cuts to include the district’s Fine Arts Institute at Green Bay East.
This program offers students an arts-focused educational experience throughout their time in the district. Students must apply to get into the program.
On Monday night, board members didn’t vote on any potential cuts to the Fine Arts Institute. In fact, the program didn’t appear in any agenda items. However, the district is studying the cost-effectiveness of the program, and a district source said they won’t hire a new program coordinator when the current teacher retires. This has sparked fears among many in the community that the Fine Arts Institute could eventually be on the chopping block as district officials make cuts to balance future budgets.
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“I spent so many hours in the art and choir room, giving all my energy and time to my art studies and finding myself,” Green Bay East student McKayla Powers said about her experience with the Fine Arts Institute. “Without this community, I’d never been pushed by my art coaches and peers to be as successful as I am today.”
“With the removal of the fine arts program, we run the risk of losing these blossoming young artists,” Green Bay East student Bridget Clarksen said. “The fine arts faculty don’t just teach me how to dance, or act, or how to be an artist, they taught me how to show up and maturely take critiques and how to believe in my own work.”
District officials say that declining student enrollment and state funding that hasn’t kept pace with inflation have forced them to make difficult decisions to balance their budgets.
For the 2026-2027 school year, they’re facing a $5 million budget shortfall. If they decide not to adjust staff salaries for the cost of living and forgo raises for staff, that number will shoot up even higher.
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On Monday night, board members made several adjustments to their insurance and employee benefit plans to begin whittling down that $5 million deficit. One item that they voted against changing was the district’s internal income protection plan, which helps make sure employees can still get paid even when they’re out with a long-term sickness or injury.
“We changed it one year, and I don’t think we need to be pulling the rug out from under people here,” board member Andrew Becker said. “There will be catastrophic stories over this (if we change it) that we’ll be listening to.”
The board also voted to convert the pool at Edison Middle School into an auxiliary gymnasium.
For the 2027-2028 school year, the district could see a budget deficit as high as $34 million. A district source told Local 5 News that if there were any changes or cuts to district fine arts programs, they would be made to help fill the budget hole for the 2027-2028 school year.
The $34 million number will likely change when the state passes its next budget.
“I’m not just asking you to only protect the Final Arts Institute pathway, but to strengthen it,” said Mark Seidl, who had kids in the program. “A strong and visible arts pathways is the kind of program that is going to draw students into the district.”
