RC Superintendent Tidbits
By: Mark Otten
With the results that my last article produced, I am thinking I need to ask for something big in this one. If you
recall, my request was for snow to fall Friday evening into Saturday so we did not have to call any snow days. This
most recent storm did just that so I am thinking I missed out on my one wish granted. However, I will still throw
out there that I would like to see the Iowa Hawkeyes win the men’s or women’s (or both) NCAA basketball
tournaments this year. I hope I am not out of wishes!
On a more school related note, I was doing some research on tax levies and per pupil expenditures, both of which
are public info on the Department of Education website. It is no coincidence that our tax levy currently sits at the
13 th lowest in the state out of 244 districts and our per pupil expenditures have increased by an average of less
than 2% per year over the past ten years. It is my goal, and the goal of our school board members, to continue this
trend while also finding ways to update our facilities and provide more opportunities for our students.
With that being said, we are in the legislative session and it is time to keep an eye on certain pieces of legislation.
There are bills ranging from helping districts by providing more state aid, which in turn would allow districts to
lower property taxes, to bills that that move to take our tax dollars away from Rock County and hand them to
parents across the state to send kids to private schools. There are just under one hundred bills that I know of that
could affect Rock County Public Schools either positively or negatively. I am hopeful that our legislators will do
what is best for all kids and work to fund public school equitably.