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 …
Saturday, March 30, 2013
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: One parent explains his discovery of why the timing of Proposition S is what it is for the Rockwood School District. "What I learned (Wednesday) was sobering."
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Saturday, March 30
Rockwood School District’s (RSD) Proposition S will be decided on April 2. I attended an information session Wednesday at Lafayette High School in Wildwood, where RSD presented their case. Testimony was presented from school representatives, and highlights were that Prop S includes fixing the sinking floor of an entire wing of Ellisville Elementary (built in 1938), resulting in structure issues, among other problems. We also learned a classroom’s handicapped children must exit to outdoors to re-enter the cafeteria, because it is not compliant with the American Disabilities Act. I heard, but have also seen myself, that Chesterfield Elementary has a tiny library that needs upgrading, and that they are continually, and I mean continually, …
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 …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Will a no-tax rate increase bond issue for the Rockwood School District be placed on the April ballot? Thursday night, a bond amount of $36.6 million was suggested. Would it be supported by voters?
Four 'Picture Rockwood' co-chairs presented recommendations during Thursday's Board of Education directors' meeting, after a four-month community engagement process to hone in on Rockwood School District's future over the next decade and beyond. Their presentation was consistent with the information covered in Monday's two community engagement sessions. One change in the information provided at Thursday's directors' meeting was the amount of the proposed no-tax rate increase bond: $36.6 million. Read this week's Patch two-part series for background and details: 'Picture Rockwood' Feedback Summarized 'Picture Rockwood' Feedback to be Presented Thursday Rockwood's directors said the bond figure is preliminary, and that they have more …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Part 2: Get sneak preview of new findings prior to presentation to Rockwood School District's board of directors Thursday evening. Administrators say district still will be in deficit spending for FY 2014. Safety needs top list of patron support.
Editor's Note: Part 1 of this article previously was published this week as 'Picture Rockwood' Feedback Summarized. That article highlighted findings based on telephone surveys conducted last month. This article continues with other information classified as "key findings" from the entire community engagement process began in September. Picture Rockwood co-chairs will present their recommendations during Thursday's (Jan. 10) Board of Education directors' meeting. The qualitative and quantitative feedback indicated the community-at-large is not ready to move forward with all of the district's stated priorities, but the current focus is on some of the priorities. Rockwood School District Finances' Summary Points from Monday's Public Session…
Friday, December 14, 2012
LAST CHANCE TO SUBMIT FEEDBACK: For many years, Rockwood School District leaders have used bond funds to pay for ongoing maintenance. But that source of funding came to abrupt halt once the April bond issue failed.
Is Rockwood School District's financial future really a case of comparing "apples and oranges"? It was lately, with today (Friday, Dec. 14) being the last day to submit feedback regarding the district's situational and strategic comparison—all while facing a $5.1 million budget deficit. After comparing the proposed apple versus orange pictures, or scenarios that resulted from the past several months of a community engagement initiative, of Rockwood's potential future, feedback can be submitted a variety of ways: Both Apple and Orange pictures/scenarios include the district eliminating about $1 million from the operating budget for the coming school year. But, the proposals suggest tax increases that would raise revenue over that of the …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
School community chairpersons of Rockwood School District's Picture Rockwood Facilitating Committee on Wednesday said most everyone they interact with indicates they are surprised at the district's circumstance and financial shortfalls.
Rockwood School District's "Picture Rockwood" Facilitating Committee members huddled with back-to-back groups Wednesday evening to convey the status of a recent series of community engagement workshops, and to address new questions. With the Jan. 22 deadline to place a tax proposal on the April 2, 2013, ballot looming, they told Patch they realize there is not a lot of time to help others understand this engagement process. But they also said they are committed to reaching as many people as possible, and that they hope the majority of district residents will participate in this next feedback phase before they make a presentation to the Rockwood Board of Education directors on Jan. 10. Picture Rockwood focuses on a state-of-the-district …
Now through Dec. 14, Rockwood School District taxpayers have opportunity to share feedback via telephone survey or online feedback form regarding final summaries chosen to guide district's future strategic direction.
The future direction of Missouri's third largest school district now pivots around two visionary "pictures," which actually are recaps of outcomes based on specific assumptions, revenues and expenditures. A multimonth community engagement process to shape Rockwood School District's strategies moving forward has peaked, and district officials will host the final workshop of the process during the first week of January as they move from Phase 1 to 2 of this overall project. Details of the so-called district "pictures" were supposed to capture broad strategies, not specific action plans, said Rockwood representatives when the project was initiated in October, after Rockwood Board of Education directors approved the project in July. Background…
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 …
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 ›