The School District of Janesville maintains:

• 12 elementary buildings account for a total 847,553 square feet on 113 acres.
• 3 middle school buildings account for a total of 524,003 square feet on 73 acres.
• 2 high school buildings account for a total of 661,923 square feet on 107 acres.

The district also maintains the Educational Service Center, Rock River Charter School and the Chestnut House totaling under 50,000 square feet and under 3 acres.

In total, the district maintains more than 2,083,000 square feet of property on about 296 acres. This is comparable to maintaining 1,000 homes of 2,000 square feet.

• switching to a high deductible health plan for employees;
• reducing staff positions based on enrollment;
• making energy efficient upgrades to our facilities;
• managing debt; and
• reviewing things that affect the “cost of doing business” such as property and casualty insurance costs. 

Although the Janesville Board of Education is fairly unique in that it has never presented district residents with an operational referendum, district voters last passed a facilities referendum 14 years ago for building renovations.

Because of the district’s revenue situation, if the board does not receive approval for its operational referendum, the board will be forced to make cuts to programs and services, reduce staff, and increase class sizes. Staffing costs account for 78.5% of the district’s operating budget.

On average the district annually spends approximately $1.3 million on capital maintenance and improvement. Defining the distinction between maintenance and improvement is, at times, difficult.

The district defines capital maintenance as a major repair or replacement of existing assets. For example, asphalt replacement, at a particular building is replacing an existing asset, and thus defined as capital maintenance.

Alternatively, over the course of the last four years 2016-2020, the district replaced all existing elementary playground equipment at a cost of $1,604,285 to upgrade the structures, including ADA accessibility. This type of project is an example of a capital improvement.

Since 2013, the district has invested $10,652,599 in capital maintenance and improvement outside of the district’s daily operational budget.

For a school by school listing of capital maintenance and improvement projects beginning in the 2012-2013 school year to the present, please see the SDJ Capital Maintenance Project List.

The Board of Education feels strongly that, as elected officials, they are charged by the community to protect the assets of the school district—including its buildings. Toward that end, if the referendum does not pass, the board will be forced to return to district voters with a new proposal for the district’s facilities in the future. 

The referendum questions are as follows: 

1. Question 1:  BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the School District of Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin, that there shall be issued, pursuant to Chapter 67, Wisconsin Statutes, General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $22,500,000 for the purpose of paying the costs of school building improvements including additional security measures, improving life-safety systems and replacing boiler systems and associated components.
2. Question 2:  BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the School District of Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin, that the final school district budget shall include the amounts set forth below in excess of the revenue limits imposed by Section 121.91 of the Wisconsin Statutes each year for a period of four years on a non-recurring basis for the purpose of paying costs of maintaining District class size, student program options and services as follow: $3,500,000 for the 2021-2022 school year, $7,500,000 for the 2022-23 school year, $11,500,000 for the 2023-24 school year and $14,500,000 for the 2024-25 school year.

If approved by voters, beginning in year one, 2021-2022 the revenue limit would increase $3.5 million; in year two the limit would increase another $4 million for a total of $7.5 million; in year three the revenue limit would increase another $4 million to $11.5; and in year four the revenue limit would increase another $3 million to $14.5 million.

Per the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, “In the fall of 1993, the Wisconsin legislature instituted a limit or control on the revenue a school district is entitled to receive each year. The control applies to two sources: 1) general state aid and 2) select local levies for General Operations – Fund 10; Capital Projects – Fund 41 and Non-Referendum Debt – Fund 38.”

The following table illustrates a comparison of the district’s revenue limit, state equalization aid and local support over the span of seven years. In short, over the seven-year period, the district’s revenue limit increased 2.15%. Additionally, during the same period of time, local support increased an average of 1.32% each year for a total of 9.22%.

The following table illustrates a comparison of total General Operations – Fund 10 revenue between a span of seven fiscal years. Like districts across the state, the School District of Janesville receives support from local taxpayers, the state, and the federal government.

Key:

• Local sources: property taxes, mobile home fees, admissions
• Inter-district sources: open enrollment payments (payments for students from other districts attending school in SDJ)
• Non Wisconsin sources: Janesville International Exchange Program
• State: General Aid, Equalization Aid
• Federal: Title grant funding
• Other: Miscellaneous, items such as worker’s compensation dividend

A districts mil rate is calculated by a district dividing the all funds levy by TIF out equalized property values. For example, the 2019-2020 SDJ mil rate calculation is $40,758,519 / $4,804,346,169 = .00848 or $8.48.

For more information, please visit https://ecriss.ecragroup.com/strategy/Home/Index?Dashboard=SCH006

For more information, please visit https://ecriss.ecragroup.com/strategy/Home/Index?Dashboard=SCH006

A district’s equalized mil rate is calculated by dividing the total levy by the district’s total TIF out property value. As property values increase and/or decrease, so too does the equalized mil rate, regardless of the levy. Using a conservative increase of 2% in property annual each year for the next five years, the projected and combined mil rate for each question will increase as follows:

The School District of Janesville will continue to look for ways to serve our community no matter what the result.  Next steps could include trying again in April 2021, however, this will be dependent on getting more feedback from the community.

The School Board of Janesville continuously makes difficult decisions that take into account our financial health and our Promises to our students and community.  If there is no increase in revenue, the board will make those difficult decisions.  What those decision are depend on evidence and data.  However, it is reasonable to assume that there will be changes in staffing and programs which will affect the classroom, our students, and our community.

By state law, school districts are permitted very few revenue streams.  The district’s operations are dependent primarily on funds from the State and local property taxes.

The School Board’s role is to provide the public with information so the people of the community can make an informed decision about a referendum.

Staffing