Wisconsin State Rep. Todd Novak
Novak was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2014 and has been Mayor of the City of Dodgeville since 2012. He was raised in Wisconsin and is a lifelong resident of Iowa County, where he grew up on his family farm outside of Cobb. Beyond his role as Mayor of Dodgeville, Todd has served as the Government and Associate Editor of the Dodgeville Chronicle and was also appointed to the Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.State Rep Todd Novak, R-Dodgeville, has witnessed quite a transformation in the schools of his geographically large, mostly rural district.
Growing up on the family farm in Cobb, the lifelong Iowa County resident attended all eight years of grade school in the village of Cobb along with perhaps Cobb’s best-known celebrity — UW Men’s Basketball Coach Greg Gard.
Today that little elementary school is no more. In the 1960s, the former Cobb Kernels joined their regional neighbors — the Linden Miners, Rewey Eagles, Livingston Lions and Montfort Hilltoppers — to become the Iowa-Grant Panthers, with a new high school tucked into the cornfields south of town. Each village still had their own elementary school, but in the 1990’s they had all vanished when a new central elementary school was built on the campus next to the high school.
The schools in Assembly District 51, which spans all of Lafayette and Grant counties in Wisconsin’s southwest corner, have an interesting history that mirrors many rural areas of America. Once peppered with one-room schoolhouses in each farm community, they are now regionally connected through consolidation, with 14 districts total remaining.
“I have enrollments in my district anywhere from my largest in Mount Horeb, which is around 2,500 students, to others closer to 200 in Lafayette County. Most of them are mid-range; Iowa-Grant is at about 600 and Dodgeville is about 1,000,” Novak says.
“For those districts that are hitting like 200- to 300-student enrollments, they are in sort of a special category where they have some unique challenges with that size.”
“For college-bound students, a bigger school district typically can offer more college preparatory courses than smaller ones, and I think that’s where programs like the Summer Science Camp really play a role.” Wisconsin State Rep. Todd Novak
In many ways, these schools have a lot going for them, regardless of size. Many of them are operating off local funding referenda, which their communities have strongly supported. Class sizes also tend to be very impressive — Iowa-Grant, for example, has an 11-1 teacher-student ratio. They have graduation rates largely above the state average.
They also tend to be pretty resourceful. Many high school teachers cover multiple academic areas. A superintendent might also serve as a principal and guidance counselor. Smaller schools also offer specialty and Advanced Placement (AP) college classes via videoconference and enter co-op programs with neighboring districts to increase access to football and basketball programs.
They’re pretty innovative out there,” Novak says.
Just as these schools partner with nearby districts to expand opportunity, they have been equally open to looking further east to the Morgridge Institute and UW–Madison. Seven high schools in the district have attended the Morgridge Summer School Camp, including three of the smallest schools, such as Shullsburg (110), Argyle (80) and Benton (60).
“For college-bound students, a bigger school district typically can offer more college preparatory courses than smaller ones, and I think that’s where programs like the Summer Science Camp really play a role,” Novak says. “It helps fill in the gap.”
Novak credits schools with being forward-thinking about preparing students for post-high school success — whether that means straight to employment, work on the home farm, learning a trade through nearby Southwest Tech, or venturing off to college.
“Back in my day, you just didn’t think about a career or what you were going to do until you were maybe a sophomore or junior,” he says. “Now they’re starting to offer things in grade school and middle school to kind of feel them out about careers.”
What’s certain in the years ahead is more declining enrollment, with years of lower birth rates coming home to roost. Wisconsin public school enrollment is projected to decline by as much as 7.7% by 2030, with a potential 15% drop over the next decade. Next year alone, Wisconsin projects to have 14,000 fewer students than the prior year.
That innovative spirit of these schools will be needed more than ever.
“What’s amazed me over the years is how each school district has gotten creative with staying financially solvent,” he says. “But I don’t know if any amount of money can solve low birth rates and declining enrollment.”
“I think everybody needs to think out of the box,” Novak adds. “The old way of school funding, the old way of how schools run, is not going to be feasible. And I think partnerships are increasingly going to be the answer.”
Rural Roots, Research Futures
For 20 years, the Morgridge Summer Science Camp has opened the doors of a world-class research university to high school students from rural Wisconsin. Through interviews with students, teachers, and experts, we examine what makes the experience transformative for participants and for science itself.