While the outlook for the former University of Wisconsin campus is not totally settled, its fate as a UW branch or as a “social capital” is sealed. Not going to happen. RIP.
The lawsuit filed by the Washington County Charitable Foundation (WCCF) is still in process, but the request for an injunction for the sale to FaithRidge Christian School (FRCS) – – formally the Ozaukee Christian School — was denied by Ozaukee Judge Steven Cain. That means the FRCS remodeling work will continue, with a planned opening for 9th and 10th graders this fall.
The remaining suit will come up in a court hearing August 10.
The foundation board has a decision to make. Will it press ahead with its suit to reclaim all or part of its $1.1 million donation – – via a gift in the 1960s from the Collins family – – or not? My guess is that they will try to get back some of the donation to be used for scholarships for “public education,” which was the original intent of the donation. At issue in the suit is whether donor intent has been followed or not.
If the suit is successful, the county will net only a fraction of the $3 million purchase sale to FaithRidge.
Beyond tiny FaithRidge, it looks like there are three winners in this outcome:
- The City of West Bend gets $1.3 million for its 26% share of the campus.
- The community will eventually get access for up to 60 vacant acres of the 80 that make up the campus. For a previously aired price of $300,000, the Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation will be taking over that piece of dramatic Kettle Moraine topography.
- The West Bend School District that opposed a competitive for-profit voucher school got what it wanted. A for-profit choice school for the campus fell by the wayside in the local debate over its future use. It would have drawn an estimated 600 local students.
The losers in this complicated scenario will be future students who no longer have elegant access to a UW local campus or to a “smart start academy” as a possible alternative use for the closed campus.
Another loser, in my humble opinion, was Washington County Executive Josh Shoemann who failed to come up with the bold, creative, impactful concept for the campus. He initially floated the idea of a “social capital” that would have multiple uses.
Yet another loser has been the philosophy of the University of Wisconsin called the “Wisconsin Idea” that says that the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state. The former UWWC campus was a feeder for the four-year UW campuses across the state.
Eight of the 13 two-year UW campuses have been closed. Their old business model that offered two-year associate degrees in liberal arts wasn’t working in the face of declining student enrollments in higher education generally.
The Wisconsin Technical College System has been filling some of the gap by adding general education classes alongside its technical classes. Moraine Park Technical College, which fought the combination of UWWC with its West Bend campus, has filled some of the that demand. UW-Milwaukee has a recruiting office at MPTC in West Bend.
Some students are graduating from high school with a bunch of college credits through AP and dual credit courses. Some have earned a free associate degree while still in high school. One energetic girl in the Green Bay area graduated with her diploma and only one course short of bachelor’s degree.
Moraine Park now has about 200 students pursuing an Associate Degree in Arts and Sciences.
The education picture in the two counties north of Milwaukee has seen a rapid growth of private voucher schools. The relocated FaithRidge Christian school is going to have plenty of competition.
In addition to the two thriving parochial schools in Jackson, Kettle Moraine Lutheran and living Word, a game of musical chairs between schools is underway in Saukville. While FaithRidge is moving out, North Shore Classical Academy (NSCA) is moving into Saukville.
According to news reports, NSCA will open its private school there in September 2027. It has secured financing for $2.4 million in renovations and will not really rely on public dollars. Its curriculum will be supplied by Hillsdale College, known for its conservative orientation. It will start with freshmen in 2027 and add a grade level every succeeding year.
Meanwhile, Saint Augustine Preparatory Academy, which has a southside campus with 2400 students, is rebuilding the former Cardinal Stritch University campus in Fox Point for an estimated $100 million. That’s an incredible investment.
Saint Augustine is supported by the Ramirez Family Foundation and Husco. It is a parental choice school for which voucher state money flows to the parents. The combination of vouchers and tuition paid by parents creates a business model that has been nicely profitable for many choice schools.
The reworked Stritch campus will open for 300 K4-6 and 9th grade students this fall and is projected to grow to more than 100 K4-12 students.
A short commute from Washington County, the rebuilt campus will undoubtedly draw some students from Washington County for its Christian-centered curriculum.
In the final analysis, all educators and communities need to embrace innovative concepts and structures to keep up with rapid changes in the society and economy, with the resulting new dynamics for career pathways and with sharply fewer student numbers.
One view of the future landscape can be seen in the renaming of the La Crosse tech college to Western College as a community college and the Rhinelander tech campus to Nicolet College. Madison College has more than 10,000 students in parallel technology and liberal arts tracts.
Is there a Moraine Community College in our future?
