Steering Committee

Committee News

Click here to download petition form.

Volunteers Needed!!!

 April is the month to put your passion into action! We need everyone’s help this month to meet our goal of 9,700 signatures. If you really want to see the Caledonia School district become reality, we need you to download a petition from www.caledoniaschooldist.org and hit the streets gathering signatures.  

Anyone who resides within the Racine Unified School District (all of Racine County east of I-94 and is 18 years or older can sign.You must witness the signatures and fill out the bottom portion of the petition.  Those that sign can only sign once and cannot sign for anyone else, so please ask those interested if they had already signed the petition.  All the information must be completed by the person signing. 

Once completed, you may mail the completed petitions to:  Caledonia School District, 5117 Briarwood Ln., Racine, WI 53402-2129. 

Please let us know how many signatures you have each week by emailing the count to:  coordinator@caledoniaschooldist.org so we can keep a running tally. 

If you already have signatures, please use the same email and send in your count ASAP.

We need volunteers to write in support of the creation of a Caledonia School District. We would like to see one everyday from now through April 30th. You may send these letters via email to: stevelovejoy@lee.net or mail them to: Letters to the Editor, The Journal Times, 212 Fourth St., Racine, WI 53403.  If you would like samples or ideas put into words, email me at bdey3@wi.rr.com with Letters to the Editor in the subject box.

We will be updating you on more April events as they unfold!

Brian Dey, Caledonia School District Steering Committee

Caledonia School District discussion draws a substantial crowd

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Brian Dey, President of the CSDSC,(second from left in photo) discusses the property tax implications of starting a new district vs. staying with Unified

A crowd of over 50 Caledonia residents attended the first open hearing conducted by the Caledonia School District Steering Committee. From what I understand, there may have been more people in attendance at this meeting than at the RUSD Candidate Forum at the Golden Rondelle.

Obviously there were no representatives from the current RUSD School Board present, although school board candidate John Leiber did stop in after the forum. Dey told the crowd that Superintendent Shaw had intended to attend the Caledonia meeting, but was apparently quite ill.

There was a fair amount of information given out last night - I'm going to just give you some of the main points that were discussed.

The CSD Steering Committee discussed the main reasons for creating a school district:

1) Local Control - a Caledonia School District Board of Education would be comprised of Caledonia residents, there are currently NO Caledonia Residents on the RUSD Board. There would be no more referenda imposed on us unless we voted for them.

2) Property Taxes - Caledonia currently pays 24% of the RUSD tax bill, but only recoups about 10% of the spending. We pay 24% of the RUSD taxes, but only have 12% of the buildings. Currently, there are about 5400 school-aged children living in Caledonia. Of that number, only about 2800 use RUSD.
According to the steering committee, a CSD would be able to continually lower taxes once it is established. Though residents would pay more in the first couple years, those amounts trail off quickly as state aid kicks in to levels equal to or below the tax level being levied by RUSD.

3) Growth - There was discussion of attracting new residents and businesses to Caledonia (taxbase) particularly now that a sewer and water agreement will bring services to the freeway corridor. Many employers and potential residents have been discouraged to move to the area because of RUSD.

Dey discussed the importance of a CSD stating statistics prove that smaller districs perform better. Of the 50 school districts in the region, RUSD ranks 49th in every category, the only district with a poorer performance is MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools.) A recent Valedictorian from the smaller South Milwaukee School District was a Caledonia resident.

There was also discussion of how a CSD split would benefit RUSD:
- RUSD would become a poorer district in the eyes of the state and eligible for more state aid.
- Even if only half of the 2800 students left RUSD, you could assume a drop of about 350 students at each of the RUSD middle and high schools. This would accomplish one of Superintendent Shaw's goals of freeing up space for less crowded classrooms.
- Bus routes would be much shorter benefiting all the RUSD students that currently rely on bus transportation.

Dey reported that the weekend petition drive had netted nearly 5% of their total goal of 9,700 signatures. The group still faces the daunting task of acquiring the remaining signatures. If there are insufficient signatures by the July 1st deadline, the committee intends to hold the signatures and start a new petition drive this September. I got the distinct impression this group is in this for the long haul and I believe that's an appropriate mindset given the reluctance on the part of RUSD to even discuss the matter with Caledonia.

A number of residents spoke - I didn't hear any that were opposed to a new district. Three, however, stood out in my mind. Two are currently school teachers in RUSD (who shall remain nameless) that were not shy in telling the group how poorly they feel RUSD is being run. Another standout was a former president of a local PTA who described the treatment her school had (or hadn't)received from Unified. All other teachers in the district were trained on the Smart Board technology, but since Caledonia is considered "affluent" by RUSD, this Caledonia PTA had to spend $3300 of their own dollars to hire a consultant to train their teachers, since Unified refused. Your Caledonia tax dollars NOT hard at work!

The timeline for formation of a Caledonia school district. SDBAB refers to the School District Boundaries Appeals Board.

There is too much more information to report on all at once, but I will continue to attend meetings whenever possible and try to fill in the gaps. I do, however, strongly encourage every resident to try and attend a meeting and ask the specific questions that are pertinent to your situation.

The Steering Committee will be meeting every other Monday - next open meeting is scheduled for March 9th and I will post those meeting times and locations for anyone that may be interested.
Posted by Caledonia Unplugged

October 28, 2008 - Brian Dey

The committee has been meeting faithfully twice a month since July. Over the past two months, we have developed a road map to get us to July 1st of next year and we are about ready to roll out the petition drive. Let me preface the petition drive by stating that dialogue has begun with RUSD. I had a meeting with the new Superintendent, Dr. James Shaw, and outlined what was happening with the Caledonia School District and went over the law, timetable and the necessary procedures for our steering committee and detailed the role RUSD plays in it. The dialogue was cordial and productive. As a new Supt., he believes that he doesn’t play an integral role in the process, however he did see some benefit to continue the dialogue.

I sent an email to the entire Board on October 13th to set up a study session to provide the data as we know today (which has changed considerably), to explain the process and the role they have, the reasoning behind the movement and to answer any questions they may have.

Hence, we are moving forward with the petition drive. Quietly, the process has already started with the Steering Committee circulating petitions in Caledonia. The initial phase for volunteers starts November 8th at 2:00 pm with a brief training session to be held at the Caledonia Eastside Community Center. A grid has been developed for Caledonia from County Line Rd to the southern border of the village and east of Hwy 31. Volunteers will be able to sign up for a walking route and tally the yeas, nays and no contacts. The object is to canvass as many of the Caledonia residents as possible first, so we can gauge the support level within Caledonia. It is my hope that we can canvass all of Caledonia by December 14th and present that number to the Village Board and RUSD.

July 7, 2008 - Brian Dey

Two of Caledonia ’s Trustees’ have joined our committee; Kevin Waangaard and Lee Wishau.  Both were instrumental in getting this issue to the Caledonia Board.  Also, former Caledonia Trustee candidate Kathy Burton and former School Board candidate John Leiber will also be on the committee.

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Volunteers are now being sought who are willing to donate their time and talent as part of a standing Steering Commitee working toward making a successful Caledonia School District a reality.

Please contact Brian Dey at bdey3@wi.rr.com