September 2024
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Educational freedom refers to the ability of parent’s to select the best educational opportunity for their children. It recognizes that all children are unique, full of potential, and deserving of a high-quality education that meets their individual needs. For someone to be truly free, they must receive a high-quality education which allows them to maximize their full potential in life.
Recently RCF announced the top performing public school districts and schools in Rock County. RCF recognizes and thanks teachers and students for their commitment to excellence, and to educational freedom!
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 annual expense for Rock County homeowners and indirectly, renters. With school districts being the highest portion of one’s property taxes. Most people in Rock County know their property taxes are high, but few realize Rock County’s property taxes are higher than 96% of all counties in the US! This is based on the percentage of personal income, or people’s ability to pay (Source).
Educationally speaking, what is going up, and what is going down in Rock County?
Going UP
- Per student spending
- Excess spending
- Staff counts
Going DOWN
- Performance results
- Number of students
- Performance standard thresholds(1)
(1) Starting in 2024-2025 school year (i.e. next year)
It should be noted that local district school boards and their school Administrators (which report to the school board) are ultimately responsible for the educational results of students and the district, not the teachers. School boards and their Administrators frequently try to deflect accountability onto others (e.g. parents, students) or things (e.g. funding). Parents and citizens elect school board members to make sure children are equipped with effective education which leads to greater educational freedom, and a bright future for each and every student.
WHERE DOES THIS DATA COME FROM?
The WI Department of Public Instruction (DPI) annually releases their reports on all public school districts across WI. The most recent data provided by DPI is from the 2022 – 2023 school year. The data used to create this document was provided by DPI, and can be found here.
WHAT’s UP & DOWN IN ROCK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS:
- Rock County average district performance going DOWN
- Rock County school district performance averages over last 5 years(2)
- Student proficiencies Math DOWN 10% & English Language Arts (ELA) DOWN 10.6%, and both are BELOW state averages by 8% and 9% respecfully
- District Accountability scores DOWN 12.7%
- Average district rank (based on Accountability scores) vs all WI districts is DOWN 22% (49 spots)
- Average Rock County student enrollment going DOWN
- Student enrollment DOWN 6% (DOWN 1560 students)
- Rock County student performance standards thresholds are going DOWN
- DPI lowers the performance standard thresholds to mask their lower academic achievement.
- Example: In the ‘20-’21 school year reporting, DPI lowered the threshold for districts to obtain a “Meets” expectations ranking. This benefited the Janesville School district as their Accountability Score they achieved (60.2) would have merited a “Meets Few” expectations, based on the previous year’s (higher) threshold.
- DPI will be lowering the performance standards in ‘24-’25. Here are a few details, but you can go HERE to learn more.
- In 2012 DPI started with a test, 2015 they switched the test, in 2020 there was no test (due to the pandemic), in 2021 many students skipped the test because of lingering pandemic concerns, and now again in 2024 they are changing the test. So essentially we have no idea how children are doing compared to the prior year. Additionally, it is believed the new test will see a 15% to 25% increase in proficiency, by simply changing (simplifying) the test.
- Lowering the threshold for what is proficient, a 19 on the ACT will now count as proficient. By the way, the U of WI system no longer requires the ACT test to be admitted but when they did require the ACT for admission, a 19 was not acceptable on any of the 13 U of WI campuses.
- DPI keeps changing the FORWARD EXAM students take to determine student proficiency and district-level performance.
CURRENT:
- Advanced
- Proficient
- Basic
- Below Basic
NEW:
- Advanced
- Meeting
- Approaching
- Developing
- Additionally, DPI will be changing the District Overall Accountability Score terminology to make them less clear.
- Per student spending(3) in Rock County is going UP
- Average annual cost per student spending has gone UP 25.1% (UP $4,476) over the last 5 years(1). Rock County average annual per student spending is 4% (+$625) higher than the state average.
- Go HERE to learn more about enrollment and spending trends in WI
- Go HERE to find out if greater school funding results in greater student success.
- Excess spending (beyond current revenue limits) is UP
- Local school districts many times require spending referendums to allow school districts to exceed state spending limits. However, 7 of the last 8 school district referendums have failed in Rock County.
- These three Rock County School Districts will have a referendum on the November 2024 ballot to increase their spending in excess of state defined revenue limits.
REFERENDUM:
- Evansville: Add $2.9M per year for three years
- Janesville: Add $14.5M per year for 2 years
- Milton: Add $5M forever (i.e. recurring), thereby doubling their current $2.5M over-spending
(2) 2018 to 2023, based on WI Department of Public Instruction (DPI) data
(3) Based upon DPI reported Total District Costs (TDC)
Rock County average school district staff counts are UP
- Average staff counts are UP 6% (+25 employees) over the last 5 years(2), while average student enrollment is DOWN 6%.
How Does Your School Disctrict Compare? (‘22-’23 school year)
Student Proficiency Scores (2022-2023 school year)
SPENDING ON STUDENTS IN ROCK COUNTY (‘22-’23 school year)
Rock County School Districts: Spend per Student(7) (5 year % change)
- The Lincoln Academy (4): No Data
- Edgerton: $17,339 (+34%)
- Milton: $15,902 (+35%)
- Evansville: $17,527 (+27%)
- Parkview: $17,409 (+20%)
- Beloit Turner: $16,568 (+30%)
- Clinton: $24,370 (+70%)
- Janesville: $17,174 (+27%)
Rock County (Avg): $17,807
State (Avg): $17,182
(7) Data is from DPI scorecard. Represents 2022-2023 school year per student cost based upon Total District Cost (TDC)
Staff and Student Counts and 5 Year Change (2022-2023 school year)
