Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Rockwood School District's chief financial and legislative affairs officer presented a "where we head now" update at Thursday's Board of Education meeting. Some of the district's HVAC units are older, high-risk units.
With the failure of the $38.4 million no-tax rate increase Proposition S on April 2, many Rockwood School District taxpayers and parents were wondering what to envision for the district's financial future. Rockwood's chief financial and legislative affairs officer Tim Rooney presented a financial overview to the Board of Education directors at Thursday evening's board meeting at Crestview Middle School in Ellisville. Rooney said the budget target, as originally presented Dec. 6, 2012, was $10.9 million. The projected deficit was to be $5.1 million. He said an additional $1 million was needed for maintenance, increasing the capital budget to $2 million. The budget for technology had been $2.5 million, particularly given the estimated needs …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
VIDEOS: Rockwood voters on Tuesday decided the fate of Proposition S, a $38.4 million no-tax rate increase bond issue, after several months of many public debates about its timing, focus and amount.
A four-sevenths, or 57.14 percent, majority was necessary for passage of Proposition S on April 2 among voters in the Rockwood School District. Prop S was offered as a $38.4 million no-tax rate increase bond initiative that focused on safety, technology and school improvements. The proposition was not passed by voters in Tuesday's election, by a 52.98 percent (9,256 votes) against or NO versus 47.02 percent (8,214 votes) for or YES. That's a difference of 1,042 votes. Rhonda Costa, chair of the "Yes on Prop S" committee, said committee members were most surprised at the degree of negativity that kept boomeranging back. "Every time we tried to move forward, the conversations and focus seemed to drag us back. How can we focus on what our …
Monday, January 14, 2013
A list of 20 budgetary items were presented at the Rockwood School District Board of Education meeting Thursday evening. Some were taken off the list by Rockwood Superintendent Bruce Borchers. Reserves now will be tapped.
Seventh on the list of 20 proposed budgetary cuts for fiscal school year 2013-2014 at Rockwood School District's Board of Education meeting Thursday was: "Freeze funds for library book purchases." An estimated crowd of 200 booked it to the meeting to participate in this budget discussion, including two of Rockwood's librarians—who spoke against withdrawing financial support to the district's libraries. Melissa Twombly, librarian at Lafayette High School in Wildwood, explained to Rockwood's education directors it took a decade of struggling for the district's librarians to meet current needs. She said many schools were lucky to have parent-teacher organizations that assisted with goals, but that it led to inconsistency and lack of equity …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
During Monday morning and evening sessions, Picture Rockwood citizen co-chairs presented results of a recent feedback phase of the district's community engagement process. They again will be at presented Thursday's Board of Education meeting.
Since last fall, Rockwood School District parents, teachers, patrons and leaders have sought to better understand what the majority of the district's stakeholders would like the district to look like 10 or 20 years from now, so current strategic plans and finances can be shaped around that vision. Rockwood is Missouri's third largest school district, according to Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education statistics, and St. Louis County's largest school district, so capturing its future into "one picture/perspective" was a pretty tall order. How to fund whatever that future "picture" has been at the heart of these conversations. Another spotlight will be cast during Thursday night at the Rockwood Board of Education meeting …
Friday, April 6, 2012
What cost-cutting steps will be chosen for Rockwood School District now that the Proposition R $43.2M bond measure failed to pass in Tuesday's election? Are the district's gold standards in jeopardy?
Educating students is one of the most important challenges faced by every community in the United States right now, especially when it comes to financing all options people want for children. While a 54 percent majority of Rockwood School District voters supported the $43.2 million Proposition R in Tuesday's election, it fell short of the state’s requirement of 57.14 percent for passage of a bond issue. The deficit in voters was projected to be about 400. See related article from Tuesday night: Rockwood Voters Reject School Bond Measure With Rockwood being approximately the third largest district in Missouri and one of the biggest in the United States, many people now are focused on how Rockwood representatives and taxpayers will …
Friday, May 20, 2011
The school board voted to place a proposal to increase the district's operating fund levy on the November 2011 ballot.
Indicating that "the Rockwood advantage" is in jeopardy, Rockwood School District Board of Education directors voted unanimously at Thursday's meeting to place a proposal to raise the operating tax levy on the November 2011 ballot for voters to decide. The actual dollar amount for the proposed increase will be determined by Aug. 30. The district's operating levy has not been raised since 1994, except as authorized by state statute. The district has forecasted an $8-million to $16-million budget shortfall for the 2012-13 budget. Citing that the two major sources of district revenue are state appropriations and a voter-approved property tax levy, Rockwood Board of Education member Stephen Banton moved to take this step for the fall. Vice …
Monday, April 25, 2011
A budget decision needs to be made on whether to drop service for hundreds of students as a way to cut millions of dollars in spending. The district sought input at a public budget forum.
No matter what part of the 150 square miles of the Rockwood School District one resides in, potential transportation changes are sparking conversations. Recent discussions center on whether bus routes and overall pickup service should be altered in a major way. There is some concern among Rockwood residents that changes will result in a need for alternative transportation and pockets of traffic congestion. Bill Sloan, Rockwood director of transportation, earlier this month issued a survey to parents of high school students with the hope of planning better bus routes for the 2011-12 school year. "Historically, Rockwood has always picked up students within about a mile from schools," Sloan said. "Although, in the last eight to nine years, we…
Friday, April 8, 2011
The cuts are estimated to save the district more than $840,000 in the next year.
In an effort to close a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, Rockwood School District is cutting several staff positions. In December, the Rockwood School District Board of Education pinpointed $5.3 million in cuts from the fiscal year 2012 budget. Cuts to staff at the middle and high school level were approved. Middle schools were asked to cut six staffing points; each point is equal to one full-time equivalent of a teacher, which is $60,000 along with benefits. High schools were asked to cut eight staffing points. The decisions on which positions to cut were determined by each school. It was based on a variety of factors, including enrollment and school needs, Katie Reboulet, director of human resources, said in an email. At the …
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Patch readers also weighed in on a musical at Lindenwood University and Rockwood's school board candidates.
There's a good group of comments here this week from our readers in Patchland, with keen observations, outright endorsements and blunt rejection—ouch! Try the comment button yourself. It doesn't bite. On Maplewood-Brentwood Patch's Moms Talk on grades: "As a parent, I find today's schools confusing. My son is 10. His grades are not given in the universal terms of As or Bs, but satisfactory or not. What does that mean? To me Satisfactory is A, but to him is that a C?" — BarbieJo On Eureka-Wildwood Patch about Rockwood schools predicted deficit: "I do not believe you can prepare a young adult for our modern world with a piece of paper, a book and a pencil." — Paige On University City Patch, Loop Businesses to Fight Parking Charge: "Pay for…
Friday, February 18, 2011
The district's board of education could seek a tax hike that would offset a revenue shortage of $8 to $16 million in the 2012-13 school year.
Rockwood School District voters could be asked for a tax increase of anywhere from 32 cents to 62 cents to head off an expected $8 to $16 million deficit in the 2012-13 fiscal year. The district forecasts revenues of $202.7 million against expenses of $211.1 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year, but state funding cuts and continuing economic decline could boost that deficit. District officials presented the forecasts at a Stakeholder Input Meeting at Rockwood Summit High School Thursday in Fenton. The meeting was part of the district’s Guiding Change Fiscal Year 2013 Sustainable Budget Process. The process is designed to gain input from district taxpayers to help develop a financial plan for the coming fiscal years. Another contributing …
KM Kramer
10:47 am on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Hay! They got an "A" for filling the forms out right! Running a large business, such as RSD is, takes more than filing "accurate financial reports". Times are tough, and the lack of oversight of the previous Board in seeing that $1.8 million in over payments weren't made, in hiring an under qualified Superintendent and paying his buddies to help him learn how to do his job are not soon forgotten… more ›