Rock County School District Review, High-level growth / financial & performance trends – March 2023
April 6, 2023
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Other Articles From Our Blog
Proposed 2025 Rock County Budget – Do They Really Want to Help Taxpayers In Their Time of Need?
October 30, 2024
Financial freedom from a local perspective is largely driven and controlled by local taxation. Most notably property taxes - School District, County and City - are a major expense of Rock County homeowners.
Most people in Rock County know their property taxes are high, but few overburdened taxpayers know, Rock County’s property taxes are higher than 96% of ALL counties in the US! This is based on the percentage of income, or people’s ability to pay (Source: https://www.tax-rates.org/wisconsin/rock_county_property_tax).
Suffice it to say that all local taxing authorities need to ‘tighten their belts,’ just as the citizens are forced to do in today’s inflation-ridden economy.
What is the truth about the relative performance of our Rock County school districts?
School districts and DPI generally do not like district performance judged based upon the DPI scorecard results. They say it is not fair to compare one district’s performance vs another, nor is it wise to compare a district’s scorecard results from one year to the next. While there may be some truth to this, the only way people have a way to compare performance trends over time, or between districts is with a consistent test given to all students in all districts. The test DPI uses the Forward Exam, which is given to all students in the state (less the few students who do not take the test).
This November, in Rock County, four school districts will again come to the property owners seeking funds to maintain their operations and facilities.
There is no doubt that voters are feeling the economic pinch this fall, and some of them will vote in the negative on school funding questions simply because their budgets are so tight. School officials argue referendums must be passed and taxes increased or the system will disintegrate.
