In the News
Unified should remain unified
Caledonia Village Board doesn’t think it should meddle in school district secession talks
BY BRIDGET THORESON
Journal Times
“Where the issue is somewhat gray here is the issue of spending money advocating either for or against Caledonia splitting off,” Geary said. “It’s not clear-cut either way.”
Geary said board members could express support for the actions of the steering committee of citizens working to create a new Caledonia school district, which is being put together by former RUSD board member Brian Dey.
Trustee Wendy McCalvy said she didn’t think the Village Board should be involved with the school board.
It isn’t proper for a political body to try to influence the schools,” McCalvy said. “I do think it’s supposed to be decided by citizens.”
The board and CDA members decided they would let the steering committee take control of the process, and have the committee report back to them about their progress.
In particular, the steering committee would need to get the ball rolling with the Racine Unified School Board, Trustee Lee Wishau said.
“We don’t want to go to the Unified School Board with some in-your-face attitude,” Wishau said. “We need to show how it’s positive for them and how it’s positive for us.”
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/07/08/local_news/doc4872d9afe2c8c757593725.txt#tp_newCommentAnchor
Struggle to stay unified part of district’s history
BY PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times
That’s the same year the United States jumped into the Bay of Pigs. The Vietnam War was on the horizon. Four years earlier, Sputnik had frightened education experts around the country, spawning a movement to improve education in American schools, especially high schools.
It was also a time when dozens of one-room schools dotted the landscape that Unified now covers.
They had names like Trautwein, Husher, Hoods Creek, Treadwell and Mygatts. The tiny schools, serving mostly kindergarten through 8th grade, each had their own school board.
The City of Racine had its own school district. Then someone had the idea to consolidate them all, which included dissolving some 25 districts and consolidating them with the city school system.
There were study committees. Action committees. Proponents and opponents. For five years people studied the possibility of this unified school district.
Many of the concerns from unification are chief concerns residents and leaders in Caledonia now cite for wanting their own school district.
There was concern about industry, orderly planning and development in the city and outlying areas. Jobs, qualified workers and taxes all were a part of the discussion.
A state law, passed in 1959, paved the way for consolidation of the community schools east of Interstate 94.
In fact, it compelled them to do something by requiring that all areas in the state be in a high school district by 1962. At the time, outlying school districts east of the Interstate sent their high school students to Racine schools and paid tuition.
There are currently 45 “unified” school districts in Wisconsin, out of a total of 426 districts, according to the Department of Public Instruction. Kenosha still uses the term “unified” in their name, but changed from a unified to a common school district during the 1994-95 school year. Districts can be unified, common or union, according to the state.
The consolidation of smaller county districts in the rural areas east of the Interstate had already started in the late 1950s, but the push to create a unified district in Racine started soon after the law was passed. The law was passed for this area, according to accounts from that time.
Racine County officials helped write the law and supported it in Madison.
George Hnilicka has listened with some interest to Caledonia’s secession talk. He’s been around as long as Racine Unified has.
Hnilicka, 81, was county superintendent of schools when Racine Unified was created and went on to work in the new school district as an administrator.
As county superintendent, Hnilicka actually issued the orders dissolving 25 school districts and creating a unified elementary and high school district that encompassed most of the area east of I-94.
He always supported the idea of a larger school district and what it could offer students, so talk of one community wanting to leave the district is a little disconcerting to the Racine native.
“I’m saddened because it was the whole concept of making a school district that would be strong and would be a leader in the educational field,” said Hnilicka, who moved from Racine to Mount Pleasant. “I’m sorry that it has not developed that way.”
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/07/07/local_news/doc487193916092b443557589.txt
The price of breaking away in Caledonia
Starting a school district would take 2 years
By HEATHER ASIYANBI
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: June 28, 2008
Caledonia - Now that the costs associated with forming a new school district have been released, Caledonia residents will have to decide how to proceed, and officials said last week that it could take at least two years to secede from the Racine Unified School District and start a new district.
At a meeting last week at Olympia Brown School, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance released the results of a financial feasibility study if the village should leave the Racine public school district and start its own. About 150 residents attended.
Given the money involved and the paperwork needed, the task, if residents choose to secede, will be complicated, according to the study:
• Residents first would need to ask the Racine Unified School Board to adopt a resolution agreeing to the creation of a new school district.
• If that's not possible, residents would have to present the board a petition signed by 20,000 eligible voters within the district.
• Should the Unified board still reject the proposal, residents would have to collect 10,000 signatures to present to the state School District Boundary Appeals Board, which would make a decision.
• Assuming an approval is issued at the state level, the process would continue into a referendum proposal for Village of Caledonia voters to decide. If the reorganization is denied by the state panel or fails at the polls, another attempt cannot begin for four more years.
• Once permission is given for a new school district, including new boundaries and division of property, the issue must be approved by the voters in the new school district. Racine Unified also has the right to ask for a referendum so voters throughout the district can vote on the issue.
Key issues outlined during the presentation included the cost of buildings, both for maintenance of current facilities and for a new high school; the assets and liabilities that would transfer from Racine Unified to the new district; tax effects; and state aid and revenue caps.
Racine Unified lists 2,745 children with a Caledonia residence attending Unified schools. The study assumed the district would begin with that number and grow. The study said about 360 Caledonia children take advantage of open enrollment in other communities, and 10% attend private schools. There are no numbers for children who are home-schooled.
Dale Knapp of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance said either Gifford or Olympia Brown elementary schools could be used as middle schools, and North Park could be kept as an elementary school. Caddy Vista, currently used as a Racine Unified storage facility, would reopen as an elementary school.
The one significant construction project Caledonia cannot escape is the need for a new high school, which could cost anywhere from $55 million to $75 million.
"This figure is designed to represent what it would cost to build a complete high school that includes desks, computers, lockers and books," Knapp said.
Caledonia residential property values account for about 24% of Racine Unified's total value. If village residents decided to move forward with forming a new district, Racine Unified would transfer 24% of both its assets, such as buildings and land), and debts into the new school district. Once liabilities are subtracted from assets, Racine Unified would end up owing the new district $44.5 million, the study said.
Getting that money is where things get a little complicated, Knapp said.
The Racine Unified School Board would have to agree to allow the new Caledonia district to move forward. Once that resolution is passed, Racine Unified would pay the new school district the $44.5 million immediately. It's important, Knapp said, to remember that during its first year of operation, the district would not receive any state aid.
That money would be used to put a $24.2 million down payment on the new high school; $14.9 million to replace state aid; $1.5 million for various other spending; and $3.9 million for a reserve fund.
Should Racine Unified not approve the reorganization and it takes two years for the new district to receive its $44.5 million, the new district would be forced to borrow $85.3 million to finance its upfront costs, as well as building the new high school, the study said. The study assumed that the new school board would use the eventual $44.5 million payment to pay down its debt, leaving a remaining $40 million debt to be paid.
Caledonia residents were divided about what direction to take. Some, like Wayne Rees, said the financial information presented supported the move toward a new district.
John Haumersen agreed and asked that the Village Board take the lead or work with residents to appoint a committee.
Joyce Hershberger said she would not sign a petition for a new school district because her children and now her grandchildren are getting a good education through Racine Unified.
Oak Creek school teacher and Caledonia resident John Kaplan told the audience that there's no guarantee a new school district won't be just as dysfunctional as the current district.
"We need to address the root causes of why Unified isn't working," he said. "How many people here will run for a seat on the new school board? Bricks and mortar don't make a school district."
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=766729
The secession process won’t be an easy one
BY BRIDGET THORESON
Journal Times Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:45 PM CDT
CALEDONIA — Regardless of what Village of Caledonia residents might want, in the end, a decision to create a new school district would be out of their control, according to one of the authors of a study released last week.
The state law that dictates the process for creating new school districts was designed for combining school districts, not breaking them up, said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
As a result, the process of seceding is "odd," he said.
"The Racine school board clearly holds more of the cards than anybody else," Berry said. "When you cut right down through it, if ultimately the Racine Unified School Board and the state-appointed board don’t want this to happen, the 20,000 to 25,000 people in Caledonia ... really don’t have any recourse other than the courts."
Odd or not, the process of breaking away from the Racine Unified School District to create a new district in Caledonia would no doubt be a lengthy one beset with a number of hurdles along the way.
Berry and his Taxpayers Alliance colleagues conducted the financial feasibility study on the possibility of Caledonia seceding and creating its own district. A presentation was made Monday at Olympia Brown Elementary School.
"From that meeting, it’s clear that a substantial number of people in a significant part of the school district want to change something, but they’re really at the mercy of forces that they can’t entirely control," Berry said.
"There’s a lot more flexibility for municipalities being created or altered than there is for school districts."
SUB: Control of one’s destiny
The earliest a Caledonia district would start up would be 2011, which would be the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Racine Unified School District.
Either the Unified School Board would need to begin the process, or a petition would have to be signed by 20 percent of the electors in Unified.
This would mean 20,000 signatures, based on the number of eligible voters in the district in the 2000 Census, according to the Taxpayers Alliance.
From there, the Unified board would have to approve the separation. It would then go to a referendum in Caledonia.
If the School Board did not approve, the matter could be taken before the state School District Boundary Appeals Board, which requires a petition from 10 percent of the electors, or 10,000 signatures.
If that many signatures were obtained, the matter would go to a referendum.
In both cases, once it gets to referendum stage in Caledonia, the Unified board could say that a referendum must be held in the rest of the district for approval.
This is the fourth time the alliance has conducted a study on splitting a district in 8 years, Berry said.
Although they’ve been approached about conducting studies on consolidating districts, they have yet to complete such a study, he said.
"That says to me that the desire for neighborhood and community local control is indeed pretty strong, and yet the statutes, and state lawmakers and officials, don’t accommodate that," Berry said.
"And assuming for a moment that every man, woman and child in Caledonia wanted to leave the district, this would be one of the state’s larger municipalities that really wouldn’t be in control of its own destiny as far as education goes, which is quite unusual."
No one has said creating a Caledonia school district is an impossible goal. But it wouldn’t be easy
SUB: Five years and counting
It’s been five years since Gary Olsen became involved in issues at the Shawano-Gresham School District.
At the time, Olsen had been asked to serve on a committee to find cost-saving measures for the school district northwest of Green Bay.
It turned out district leaders were looking to close the Gresham school, Olsen said.
"A group of us started meeting to find out what we should do," Olsen said. "I found the law that allowed you to create a school district."
Olsen and a group of other residents formed a group, Gresham Yes, to pursue secession and creation of a new school district. They were successful: The Gresham School District just completed its first school year after splitting from the Shawano School District.
Olsen serves as the first president of the first Gresham School Board. The year went well, Olsen said.
The two school districts are still working out an agreement over how each will split the assets and liabilities. The situation required the help of a mediator.
"It’s been a long process. We’re still not done," Olsen said. "You had your bumps here and there. The asset and liability split ... it seems to be the roughest go in the process so far."
SUB: An unusual case
What makes Caledonia’s case even more unusual is the fact that the School Board has not been involved.
In three other studies the alliance has conducted on splitting up school districts, the school boards played some part, Berry said.
In the Shawano-Gresham School District, for example, the school board adopted the resolution and let the citizens of Gresham decide what direction to take.
"The dynamic here is very different," he said. "The Racine board simply has not been involved."
As a result, the process becomes more tangled. The study contains a flowchart on the options for pursuing secession. It takes up five pages.
In addition, the requirements can be difficult to meet.
"There are several stages at which citizens might have to collect signatures on petitions, starting with the very first step, which could take over 20,000 signatures," Berry said.
"Twenty percent of a small district is one thing, 20 percent of a district that covers one of the state’s largest cities and two of the state’s largest villages, not to mention Sturtevant, is something quite different."
Paul Sloth contributed to this report.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/28/local_news/doc4866e7ca27acb468185936.txt
The long road to a new district
Journal Times, Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:45 PM CDT
-- Creating a new school district is a two-year process that could involve petitions, appeals and referendums.
-- If the process to create a new district is undertaken and the reorganization is denied, Caledonia could not initiate the process for another four years.
-- If reorganization occurred, the new Caledonia district could not consolidate with another school district, or have any of its territory attached to another district, for 10 years.
The only exception would be to undo the reorganization by consolidating with Unified.
-- A new Caledonia district would not receive state aid in its first year and would have to find other sources of revenue to replace the aid it would typically receive.
-- A Caledonia district would need to build a new high school at an estimated cost of $65 million.
-- Depending on how buildings are valued, Unified would owe a new Caledonia district between $35 million and $66 million.
Source: Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/28/local_news/doc4866e76644381703911979.txt
Former school board member spearheads call for secession
BY BRIDGET THORESON
Journal Times Wednesday, June 25, 2008 3:41 PM CDT
CALEDONIA — A former Racine Unified School Board member is organizing people to get started on the process of seceding from Unified.
Brian Dey, whose school board term ended in April, began discussing the next step with village officials Monday night, immediately after the presentation on the financial feasibility of Caledonia seceding and forming its own school district.
“It’s going to be a tough sell, but I think it’s a lot more palatable than we all expected,” Dey said. “We now have the numbers, we now know that it is a possibility. It really is a very good possibility that this will move forward, and relatively quickly.”
Dey said he is getting citizens together to form a steering committee, which would likely become a political action committee. Dey began seeking people interested in joining a committee through online postings Tuesday, and he said he might set up a Web site in the next week.
For the first step of seceding, either a petition signed by about 20,000 people needs to be filed with the district, or the Racine Unified School Board adopts a resolution to consider the creation of a new district.
“The big key here is to try to get Racine Unified School Board to sit down and talk with us,” Dey said.
Tony Baumgardt, school board president, said although the board has not set any concrete plans to address the possibility of secession, board members are interested in understanding how the process would work.
“There’s a lot of questions that we have now that the report’s out,” Baumgardt said. “We need to engage, but we’re not sure how.”
He said board members are open to a conversation about Caledonia setting up its own district. Right now, he said, members need to understand how this issue fits into the board’s priorities.
The question being faced by Caledonia’s board members is what role they could play in the process, if any. The board commissioned the $30,000 financial feasability study, and the Community Development Authority had taken the lead in examining the possibility of secession. During Monday’s presentation, however, it was explained that municipal government has no official role in the process of seceding.
Village President Ron Coutts said a joint meeting of the Village Board and CDA will be held sometime during the week of July 7 to discuss the study, and whether there would be legal issues if board members got involved.
“What we’re hearing is that the citizens need to go forward to get the signatures,” Coutts said. “It seems like the process is, basically you’re at the mercy of the school board.”
Dey said he would welcome trustees remaining involved as the process moves forward.
“It’s kind of been a whirlwind,” Dey said. “This is all going to be new territory for us.”
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/25/local_news/doc486297baec9e0257981789.txt
Cheaper to stay in Unified, Caledonia residents told
BY BRIDGET THORESON Journal Times
CALEDONIA — Leaving Racine’s school district and creating a new district for the village would cost residents more than staying, according to a presentation given Monday night. Representatives from The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance gave the results of their financial feasibility study to a crowd of more than 100 people at Olympia Brown Elementary School, 5915 Erie St. “School finance is really, really messy,” said Todd Berry, president of the WTA. “I can’t say that enough.” The biggest factors to consider, he said, are state school aid law, revenue law, school construction and the division of assets and liabilities between the districts.
The village board had commissioned the $30,000 study last fall. “Education is really important. I feel it’s really important for Caledonia,” said Village President Ron Coutts. “That’s the first step to doing business in our community, is having a good education system.” Copies of the report will be made available for the public at the Village Hall, 6922 Nicholson Road, and the Web site, http://www.caledoniawi.com, Coutts said.
Dale Knapp, research director for The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said student enrollment in the new district would be expected to increase for the first several years, as students who currently go to private schools or are open enrolling to other districts would come back. Knapp listed the four schools in Caledonia: Gifford Elementary School, 8332 Northwestern Ave.; North Park Elementary School, 4748 Elizabeth St.; the currently unused Caddy Vista Elementary School, 10010 Duane Court; and Olympia Brown. Gifford would house grades five through eight if used as the middle school. Olympia Brown would house grades six through eight. In each scenario the remaining three schools would be elementary schools. The big expense, almost all of the new expense of the new district, would be the construction of a high school. The cost of a new high school was estimated to be between $55 and $75 million, with a midpoint of about $65 million, Knapp said. Caledonia’s school assets outweigh its liabilities, according to the study. Based on the number of liabilities subtracted from assets, RUSD would owe the new Caledonia district somewhere between $35 and $66 million — a midpoint estimate of $44.4 million. Knapp outlined two scenarios — one in which the districts were able to divide up their assets and liabilities immediately, and one in which the districts disagreed about the amounts and the process took about two years. “This could be a long, drawn-out process,” Knapp said. Both scenarios cost more in property taxes, with the second initially costing more. In the first scenario, for a $100,000 home appreciating quickly in value, the estimated school property tax rate would be $8.07 per $1,000 of property value in 2008-2009, compared to $6.44 estimated for RUSD. In the scenario where it takes two years to sort out the districts’ assets and liabilities, the estimated school property tax rate would be $9.55 per $1,000 of property value. The earliest a Caledonia district would start up would be 2011. Either the RUSD board would need to begin the process, or a petition would have to be signed by 20 percent of the electors in RUSD. Knapp said this would mean 20,000 signatures, based on the number of eligible voters in the district in the 2000 Census. From there, the RUSD board would have to approve the separation, and it would then go to a referendum in Caledonia. If the school board did not approve, the matter could be taken before the state School District Boundary Appeals Board, which requires a petition from 10 percent of the electors, or 10,000 signatures. If they approved, the matter would go to a referendum. In both cases, once it gets to referendum stage in Caledonia, the RUSD board could say that a referendum must be held in the rest of the district for approval. “Your destiny’s really not completely in your own hands,” Knapp said. The village board would not have a role, Knapp said. “There’s really no official capacity for any part of the municipal government.” The questions from the audience featured a mixture of applause and censure for the idea of secession. For some, the process involved was daunting. “Quite honestly, it’s not hard to get better than the Racine Unified School District,” said Wayne Rees, 3153 Rudolph Drive. “I don’t think the Racine Unified School District board or the people who live in the city of Racine or in Mount Pleasant are going to help the people of Caledonia get their own school district.” John Haumersen, 8811 Foley Road, said the Caledonia Village Board should lead the way on this issue. “If you don’t want to do it then a group of volunteers which you would thus appoint would take over the leadership and absorb all of this information in detail,” Haumersen said. “It looks to me, being a (past) member of the school board, that this is financially entirely possible.” But others said seceding was not worth pursuing. Joyce Hershberger, 4722 Singing Trees Drive, said her two children, and now her grandchild, had received fine educations at Racine Unified schools. “This is not the business of the Caledonia Village Board,” Hershberger said. “I would like you to go back to the business of dealing with village matters.” Estimated mill rates, per $1,000 property value
RUSD Caledonia Caledonia 2*
2008-09:$6.44 $8.07 $9.55
2009-10: $6.63 $7.86 $9.49
2010-11: $6.48 $7.42 $7.46
2011-12: $6.29 $7.22 $7.06
2012-13: $6.23 $7.07 $6.92
2013-14: $6.18 $6.93 $6.79
2014-15: $5.93 $6.81 $6.69
2015-16: $5.91 $6.71 $6.59*
Caledonia 2: If it takes two years to divide assets and liabilities between the two districts. Source: The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Figures based on a home valued at $100,000 in 2007.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/23/local_news/doc4860734239c97842781356.txt#tp_newCommentAnchor
Caledonia residents seeking secession aren’t alone
BY PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times Sunday, June 22, 2008 8:51 PM CDT
Caledonia residents seeking secession aren’t alone. Other communities in Wisconsin seek to break away from larger school districts too, said Miles Turner, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators.
In Wisconsin, the Shawano-Gresham, Middleton-Cross Plains and Monona Grove school districts have recently considered splitting. The Gresham Community School seceded on July 1 last year, but the other two districts did not split. There are many reasons why a community considers separating from a district and creating a new one. Some communities want their own identity.
Some are disillusioned with the current school system, Turner said. “Is it white flight? Some might want to create their own homogeneous population. You can’t ignore that that might be one of the possibilities,” Turner said. People enter the discussion about creating new school districts with some built-in assumptions: it will be more cost effective; the schools will be better. “That does not mean that Racine does not have good programs or good teachers,” Turner said. “It may be an unfair assumption that they’re going to get a better school by separating.” Urban schools face the threat of their suburban communities pulling out and trying to create their own school systems. Some of it may be evolutionary. Growth is a factor, especially the growth of suburban areas, Turner said. “This is a tremendously difficult issue for school boards and community members to tackle,” Turner said. “There is an issue that people need to recognize, we can’t, as a society, start to isolate and segregate students from each other.”
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/22/local_news/doc485dd49a14f24741493504.txt
Caledonia weighs school options
Results of secession study to be released
By HEATHER ASIYANBI
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: June 21, 2008
Caledonia - Whether it's realistic for Caledonia to create its own school district could be answered Monday night during a special joint meeting of the Village Board and the Community Development Authority.
Results of a study conducted by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Association on whether Caledonia should secede from the Racine Unified School District will be released.
Kathy Burton, a village resident who collected signatures asking for the study, maintains that she is not in favor of any one option.
"If the study says we can do this, then it's imperative we get started right away," Burton said.
If the study reveals Caledonia is better off staying in Racine Unified, then Burton expects more involvement from the board.
"We need board members to rotate a schedule and attend Unified board meetings and act as the residents' advocate, take our concerns to them, be more a part of the process instead of letting parents address issues individually," Burton said.
Burton said she is an avid reader of the annual magazine declarations of the best places to live in America because each community at the top of the lists has great schools.
"We want Caledonia to be a great community where families can live, work and play," she said. "Consolidation made sense at some point, but that doesn't mean it still does."
Racine Unified board member Sue Kutz said there is a good education to be had in Racine Unified schools if the students and their families want it. She points to the test scores of students living in Caledonia that are several points above the state average.
"The test scores of our students who list Caledonia as their residence show that Unified provides a good education if a student wants it and is willing to work for it," she said.
Burton and Kutz have anecdotal evidence saying that nearly half of school-age children in Caledonia attend schools elsewhere. District figures show 2,745 children from Caledonia attend a Unified school.
"Residents who pay taxes into RUSD are paying for a service, but if half of our kids aren't using that service, why not pay for one we'll actually use?" Burton said.
Paying for a new school district is most likely what will decide the issue. Not only will Caledonia have to buy the Racine Unified buildings within village boundaries, it also will have to adopt curriculum, hire administrative and academic staff, purchase supplies and probably even take over a part of Unified's debt as part of any reorganization agreement.
There are at least four Racine Unified schools within Caledonia: North Park, Olympia Brown, Gifford and Caddy Vista.
According to the state Department for Public Instruction, it takes a minimum of two years to establish a new school district and get it operational.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=764259
The cost of secession Monday meeting to detail price tag on Caledonia leaving Unified
BY BRIDGET THORESON and PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times Saturday, June 21, 2008 11:28 PM CDT
CALEDONIA — Residents interested in seceding from the Racine Unified School District are about to learn what it would cost. Representatives from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance will present their report on their feasibility study at Olympia Brown Elementary School, 5915 Erie St., at 7 p.m. Monday.
The village commissioned the $30,000 study last fall. The possibility of creating a new school district has apparently been on some residents’ minds for almost a decade. “This thing keeps surfacing all the time, and nobody has any real facts,” said Caledonia resident Kathy Burton. “We actually need to know the facts, and that will determine what we need to do.” Burton collected 500 signatures last year from people asking the village board to pursue the study. She started collecting signatures after the village did not pursue a referendum about the issue, which had been brought forward by the village’s Community Development Authority. “I think that there is a dissatisfaction with the school system, but more and more as Caledonia is growing and developing, we’re wanting to become our own sustainable community,” Burton said. “Good schools trigger good economic development.”
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/22/local_news/doc485dd4068a989734769478.txt
Suburban test scores higher Racine studies busing, secession
By DANI McCLAIN
Posted: Dec. 11, 2007
Racine Unified School District's suburban students have test scores similar to those of high-achieving Milwaukee and Waukesha County suburban districts, according to a recent analysis of how various Racine County municipalities fared on last year's statewide reading and math tests.
But when its scores are taken as whole, Racine ranks near the bottom compared with districts of like size. The report, released Friday and produced by S.C. Johnson's community leadership department, may have implications for two battles that have split the district for more than a year: Caledonia officials' decision to study the feasibility of seceding from Racine Unified, and the ongoing debate about whether to cast off the racial desegregation policy that mandates busing between the suburbs and the city of Racine. "It does show that education is working for a certain group of people," Jack Parker, Racine Unified's interim superintendent, said of the report. "Somehow we have to do better with people coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds." The study combines and averages the 2006 reading and math scores of students in nine districts, including Elmwood, New Berlin, Mukwonago and Brown Deer. The lower the percentage of students in the municipality or district receiving free or reduced-price lunch - a standard indicator of poverty - the higher the test scores, the report concludes. Nearly 43% of Racine Unified's student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. This puts the district's wealthier suburbs at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to promoting economic development, said Ron Coutts, Caledonia's village president. "I'm trying to bring commercial growth to Caledonia," he said Friday. "The businesses first look at location and the next thing is, 'What's the school system look like?' " Coutts said this latest study echoes what his constituents have long known about the importance of parental involvement. "If you have a caring parent, you have a child that gets a quality education," he said. "It takes a lot more than the teacher and the classroom to be successful." Parker said Greg Anderegg of S.C. Johnson gave him the report last month. It's unclear why the district didn't conduct the study in-house. Parker said a School Board committee charged with deciding how the district will redraw attendance boundaries will review the report. For nearly two years, the board has debated whether to retain its race-based policy, adopt one that attempts to integrate students of different socio-economic backgrounds or move to neighborhood schools. Parker said the committee will make a redistricting proposal to the full board in May. The board plans to redraw district lines for the 2009-'10 school year, he said.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=695868
Caledonia plans to budget for school district secession study
BY BRENDAN O’BRIEN JOURNAL TIMES
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:04 PM CDT
CALEDONIA — The money to study seceding from the Racine Unified School District will likely be in the village’s 2008 budget. During a special meeting Wednesday night, the Village Board indicated it plans to include $30,000 in next year’s budget, to pay for the study. The board, however, did not vote on whether to commission the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance for the job. The study would examine the financial feasibility of the village splitting from Unified, with Caledonia forming its own school district. Village President Ron Coutts said the board will vote on the measure Nov. 20 when it votes on the 2008 budget. “As we look at Caledonia and to bring some type of (commercial) growth here, the first thing we need to look at is our education system,” Coutts said. A handful of residents were present during the hour-long discussion about the merits of the study and of creating a Caledonia school district. “We need to know the answers ... that’s what the people are saying,” resident Kathy Burton said. “There is a want for this study to happen. Let’s do this study and figure this out.” The study will determine how much a school district will cost village taxpayers if the village opts to secede from Unified. The cost of the study would increase by $5,000 if the village wanted to analyze the impact the split might have on Unified. Brian Dey, the only Unified board member who attended, said he would support having Unified pay for that analysis. The cost would also increase if the village chose to study the impact a new school district would have on students who attend a private school or another public school in the area and whether those students would instead choose to attend within a Caledonia school district.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2007/10/24/local_news/doc4720159c32763527217750.txt
Mount Pleasant village president says board shows little interest in leaving school system
BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times
CALEDONIA —As this village continues to ponder pulling out of Racine Unified School District, the next question will be: Does Mount Pleasant want to come along? Village of Caledonia officials plan to ask their Mount Pleasant counterparts if that village would like to be included in a secession study. The study would be performed by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which has done three previous similar ones. The Caledonia Community Development Authority, which is looking at the secession issue, adopted a motion Tuesday to gauge Mount Pleasant’s interest in being part of a secession study. “Knowing if Mount Pleasant was in or out would, in effect, define the scope of services,” said Caledonia Village Administrator Tom Lebak. The committee discussion, he said, was that “it would be a more feasible district if we went with a similar-size neighbor, an adjacent neighbor.” The two villages already have a joint health department, some joint park programs and share a fire station, Lebak noted. However, based on past discussion, Mount Pleasant Village President Carolyn Milkie did not expect much interest from that side. Her board did discuss the matter earlier, she said. “I got the feeling the pulse of the board was, ‘No thank you, we’re not interested.’ I have never had a board member come to me and ask us to be involved.” Nevertheless, she said the question will go to the board for a decision. Dale Knapp, research director for the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said that group has done three previous secession studies: * In about 2001, a group from Cross Plains was considering pulling away from the Middleton School District. It was deemed not feasible to create its own district, and the matter was dropped; * Later, also in the Madison area, Cottage Grove was looking at splitting off from Monona Grove, over a disagreement over where to build a new school. The Taxpayers Alliance judged it could feasibly be done. Despite that, ultimately the two contingents came to an agreement, passed a referendum on building a new school in the Cottage Grove area, and they remained one district; * In the Shawano-Gresham district, Gresham citizens were worried about having a small school closed and instead considered breaking away. The Alliance said it could be financially feasible — but Gresham would be a very, very small district, and things could get harder over time. But last fall, Gresham voted to split. It elected its school board in April and will start as a new districton July 1. Knapp noted that Gresham will start with no money and have to borrow for its operations.
Unified Land in Caledonia Ideal Site for Suburban School Expansion
The Racine Unified School District is listed as owner of a 30 acre parcel of land in Caledonia that should be considered in any asset allocation that may arrise should a new school district be formed. The land is located approximately 6 blocks east of Middle Road on 5 1/2 Mile Road.
Here are details on the property:
Owner Data
Owners Name SCHOOL DIST 1 UNIFIED
Mail to Name SCHOOL DIST 1 UNIFIED
Mail to Address 1 UNIFIED
Mail to Address 2 SCHOOL DIST 1
Assessed Land Assessed Improv. Assessed Value Avg. Assmt Ratio
$0 $0 $0 1.0146
Est. Fair Mrkt. Value
$0.00
Parcel Id 104 042317082000
Physical Address *Exception* 5 1/2 MILE RD
Year 2006
Tax Year 1st Half 2nd Half Special Total Tax Lottery Credit Amt Paid Tax Balance
2006 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Recording Date Doc # Volume Page
09/24/1999 0 1541 366
Legal Description/Location of Property
5 1/2 MILE RD
17-04N-23E
PT SE1/4 COM CEN SEC E1232 S1320 W352 S660 W880 N1980 TO POB EXC N16 &W33 OF N387 EXC V1743P82 & V2471P086 ** TAX EXEMPT** PT TO 004042317654000 IN 95 FOR 96 ROLL **TOTAL ACRES** 29.30
** TOTAL ACRES 29.88 **
Caledonia to further examine secession
By Brent Killackey
Journal Times
5/3/2007
CALEDONIA - They're still thinking about secession in Caledonia.
On Tuesday night, the Village Board moved a step closer to authorizing a feasibility study of leaving the Racine Unified School District and forming a new district. It agreed to have the Community Development Authority work with the Wisconsin Taxpayers' Alliance to finalize a scope of services, which would specify what the village wants the Alliance to examine.
Depending on the study parameters, the cost would range between $15,000 to $50,000 - although a range of $15,000 to $30,000 seemed most likely, village officials said.
Any study is likely to take three to four months to complete, Village Administrator Tom Lebak said.
The Village Board would need to approve the scope of services brought forward by the Community Development Authority.
The meeting dates were not immediately set, although the Community Development Authority was expected to meet later this month.
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance has studied other school district creations in Wisconsin, including situations involving the Shawano-Gresham, Middleton-Cross Plains and Monona Grove school districts.
"They've had the most recent experience in this to where they know what they're doing," said Trustee Kevin Wanggaard.
Additionally, as a nonprofit organization, the alliances charges for its time and expenses without trying to make a profit, he said.
The study will examine the benefits of forming a separate school district, Wanggaard said, adding that while everyone wants Unified to succeed, there are some questions that need to be answered.
"I think it's a positive step and it will answer questions, and, hopefully, Unified will work with us and not against us," Wanggaard said.
At Tuesday's meeting, the board received more than 100 additional signatures on a petition that has been circulating in support of a feasibility study, Wanggaard said. That brought the total to 479 signatures.
Seceding from Racine Unified was explored several years ago, but the idea was dropped after supporters found Caledonia's status as a town prevented progress on the matter. After Caledonia became a village on Oct. 25, 2005, the idea of forming a school district resurfaced.
A number of community leaders previously have acknowledged that Racine Unified's current performance on standardized tests and low graduation rates have hindered efforts to attract businesses and jobs.
Earlier this year, then-Village President Jonathan Delagrave and the Community Development Authority considered recommending the addition of an advisory referendum to the April 3 general election ballot. The discussion of conducting a feasibility study stems from those referendum discussions.
"The village completed an economic development plan last spring and one of the components that was in the plan was the issue of public schools," Delagrave said earlier this year. "It has been my idea for a long time to pursue the answer to the question on whether it makes sense for Caledonia to have an independent school district."
Delagrave did not seek re-election as village president. His successo, Ron Coutts, appointed Delagrave to the Community Development Authority.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2007/05/03/local/21991077.txt
Gap on schools widens
Idea for Caledonia study going to board
By DANI McCLAIN
dmcclain@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 21, 2007
Two camps of Caledonia residents - those looking to strengthen ties with the Racine Unified School District and those hoping to break away - moved a step closer to their goals last week.
On Wednesday, Caledonia's Community Development Authority confirmed that it will ask the full board to hire the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance to determine how much it would cost village taxpayers to create their own school district.
That same evening, village officials met with the Racine Unified School Board and discussed how the district can better address suburban residents' concerns about their children's education.
Ron Coutts, the newly elected Caledonia president and chair of the Community Development Authority, shuttled between both meetings. He said the upcoming two-year, $12.9 million referendum topped his list of concerns.
"You're asking for a lot of money. Why?" Coutts said, recalling his question to district officials.
He said his constituents want to know how Caledonia students' graduation rate compares with that of students districtwide.
Brian Dey, a School Board member and Caledonia resident, said that question goes to the heart of frustrations with Racine Unified. Dey said in his unsuccessful campaign for Village Board this year that he heard frequent complaints that the district spends too many resources addressing the needs of low-income students, students in special education and safety issues such as gang violence - problems Caledonia residents feel have little to do with them, he said.
"That is basically what I'm hearing: 'We live in a suburb, we should have to deal with the suburban problems,' " Dey said.
On March 21, representatives from the Madison-based Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance briefed Caledonia officials on the methodology and costs associated with conducting a secession feasibility study. On May 1, the Village Board will vote on whether it will hire the alliance to undertake the study.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=593953
Caledonia to consider study of village school district
By Paul Sloth
Journal Times
3/20/2007
CALEDONIA — Representatives from the Wisconsin Taxpayers’ Alliance will attend Wednesday’s Community Development Authority meeting in the Village of Caledonia to try to gauge just how serious officials there are about the potential to create an independent school district.
The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the East Side Community Center, 6156 Douglas Ave.
Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers’ Alliance, said his organization has done similar studies for other school districts in the state and have become the de facto experts on the issue. In a way, creating a school district out of whole cloth, which is pretty much what Caledonia would be doing if it were to successful secede from the Racine Unified School District, is unfamiliar territory for most people.
Berry said state statutes are vague or silent on much of the details surrounding the issue and state finance and school law is quiet on this as well.
But it doesn’t stop communities from investigating the possibility.
“We have to ask the people involved, ‘What are your goals? What do you want to learn?’” Berry said. “The Racine/Caledonia study is very doable. It’s in some ways easier to do than in some districts that are rural and the pieces of geography you are going to create don’t even exist.”
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has done similar studies for the Monona Grove/Cottage Grove school districts, as well as the Shawano/Gresham school districts.
“Money matters, but we’ve found that nothing trumps family, neighborhood and community identity,” Berry said. “These things have a lot more to do with politics than just pure finances.”
No referendum planned this spring on Caledonia-Unified issue
By Brent Killackey
Journal Times
02/24/2007
CALEDONIA — Caledonia voters won’t face an advisory referendum this spring related to leaving the Racine Unified School District and forming their own school district.
The Community Development Authority this week instead unanimously recommended that the Village Board continue a dialogue with Racine Unified and authorize a study of the feasibility of forming a new school district, according to Village Administrator Thomas Lebak.
The proposed study would look at all the elements involved in creating a new school district — everything from cost and time frame to what it would look like and how it would operate. “All those things fall under the umbrella of feasibility,” Lebak said.
Some authority members wanted more information on the secession concept before bringing forward a referendum.
http://journaltimesonline.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=11084
Road to going solo long and difficult
Some in Caledonia consider splitting from Racine schools
By DANI McCLAIN dmcclain@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Feb. 21, 2007
Caledonia - Some village residents have made no secret of their desire to do what few municipalities have done anywhere in the state: leave a public school district and start their own. Advertisement Buy a link here"There's a lot of people that want out," Kevin Wanggaard of Caledonia's Village Board told the School Board's legislative committee and the school district superintendent earlier this month.
Fewer than 50% of the village's school-age children attend district schools, which serve the city of Racine, Caledonia and five other municipalities in eastern Racine County. Parents complain of unsafe classrooms, low test scores and too-frequent calls for additional funds through referendums.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=569069
For Caledonia to secede, it would need 8,258 signatures
By Brent Killackey
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2006/06/21/local/iq_4091784.txt
Is leaving Unified a good idea for Caledonia?
By Brent Killackey
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2006/06/17/local/iq_4088320.txt
Seceding from Unified?
By Brent Killackey
$375 million repair bill -- Consultant hired by Unified calls for massive restructuring for grades, facilities
By Brent Killackey
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2006/06/13/local/iq_4082463.txt