2025 RPS Bond Proposal and Kent ISD Enhancement Millage Proposal

Building for the future

Providing safe and functional spaces that support and enhance educational programs.

• Add air-conditioning to all remaining schools that need it.
• Improve safety and security by installing electronic door locks for all classrooms.
• Enhance entry circulation and safety by improving students' experiences and strengthen safety at Rockford HS and East Rockford MS.
• Gyms and/or cafeterias will be added to all remaining elementary schools to allow all to have separate gym and cafeteria spaces.
• Update aging infrastructure, such as: mechanical, electrical, plumbing, roofs, and outdated systems.
• Enhance outdoor facilities (restrooms, seating, entry/exit) to improve community experience.
• Update technology infrastructure. 
• Playground equipment upgrades to all remaining schools.
• Replace aging buses to maintain the replacement cycle to keep the bus fleet modern and safe.

Advancing excellence

Creating learning environments that enhance innovation and opportunity. 

• Performing Arts Center renovation: new seats, stage, walls and interior improvements. 
• Construction of the Ram Center: indoor turf fieldhouse for athletics, fine arts and community recreation. Classroom spaces for digital media, sports marketing and business programming. 
• Career exploration classrooms at Rockford HS: expanding hands-on learning through Robotics, Skilled Trades, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and Health Sciences. 
• Enhance students' experiences: renovating student-centered collaboration spaces. 
• Early childhood renovations: updating spaces to enhance programs for our youngest learners and to enhance safety. 
• Update educational technology.

What is a bond proposal and how can funds from a bond be spent?

• A bond proposal is how a public school district asks its voters to consider authorizing the district to borrow money to pay for capital expenditures. 
• Voter-approved bond funds can be spent on projects that are generally described in the Proposal, such as new construction, additions, remodeling, site improvements, athletic facilities, playgrounds, buses, instructional technology, furnishings, equipment, and other capital needs. 
• Funds raised through the sale of bonds cannot be used on operational expenses such as employee salaries and benefits, school supplies, and textbooks. 
• Bond funds must be kept separate from operating funds, and expenditures must be audited by an independent auditing firm.

How would the bond proposal impact property taxes?

If approved, this bond proposal would require an estimated zero mill net increase over the 2025 debt levy of 7.0 mills.

Why a bond proposal now?

• In 2019, voters approved a bond proposal for the construction of Edgerton Trails Elementary, created extended learning areas at our elementary schools, and addressed many aging building systems and sites. We have a large school district, with over 14 school buildings, which all have various building ages. Across those schools, many infrastructure systems have outlived their expected useful lives, and the District plans to replace them on a rolling basis.
• There are opportunities to enhance educational programming – early childhood education program expansion, Career Technical Education (CTE), to name a few.
• When the Board of Education recognized the opportunity to make improvements to the schools that would require an estimated zero mill net increase over the 2025 levy, the District sought input from the community to prioritize potential projects, further meeting the goals of RAMS XII, our Strategic Plan, and continue executing the facilities master plan for improving the facilities over the next several years.  

RAMS XII Strategic Plan

Rooted in community conversations which involves hundreds of stakeholders, including students.

Prioritizing student readiness: The 2025 Bond Proposal would further strategic pillars and priorities, which are: Academic Excellence, Wellness and Preparedness, Social Responsibility and Community Engagement, Collaborative Culture, and Organizational Effectiveness.

Community Committee

Gathering community input: A wide cross-section of community members formed a Community Input Committee with district staff. The Committee met five times to evaluate opportunities across the district, provide feedback, and make a recommendation to the Board of Education regarding facility improvements. The recommendation of the Committee and District Administration was presented to the Board of Education for consideration at the July 14, 2025 board meeting. The scope of the potential bond projects was approved at the August 12, 2025 board meeting.  The Board of Education also formally called for a bond election at the August 12, 2025 board meeting.

What types of topics were discussed in the community committee?

• Opportunities for improvement: 
  • Elementary improvements
  • Enhance learning and student spaces to align with curriculum advancements
  • Enhance performance spaces for fine arts and athletics
  • Safety and security continual enhancements
  • Career and technical opportunities
  • Upgrades to outdoor spaces
  • Early childhood education program expansion to meet the needs of the community
  • Replacement of existing building systems, ensuring aging infrastructure continues to be addressed   
  • Maintain the 7.0 mills overall debt millage rate – community members felt it would not be responsible to borrow an amount that would require an increase in the overall debt millage rate
  • Prioritization of potential projects

Ongoing Stakeholder Conversations

Validation of input and alignment was established by having continual conversations to ensure a variety of ideas and voices were included in creating the proposal. The final proposal details were the responsibility of the District Administration and the Board of Education.

Would the approval of the bond proposal have any impact on our current operational budget?   

The bond proposal would allow the district to improve its facilities and infrastructure at a scale that is unachievable by using operating funds, ultimately reducing the significant costs of operating and maintaining older equipment and infrastructure.  

How would the funds be issued?

Funding from bonds is proposed be issued in three series:

• Series 1: $40 million (2026)
• Series 2: $110 million (2028)
• Series 3: $80 million (2032)

Would money from the bond proposal be used to pay teachers’ salaries and benefits?

• No. School districts are not allowed to use funds from a bond for operating expenses such as employee salaries or benefits or other operating costs. 
• Bond proceeds must be kept separate from operating funds and expenditures must be audited by an independent auditing firm.  

What is the scale of the District’s facilities?

• Rockford Public Schools operates 18 facilities, 14 of which are school buildings, with over 1.3 million square feet of space, on approximately 395 acres of sites. 
• In 2016, the district initiated the development of a facilities master plan to identify the various building system ages to better understand their useful lifecycles and plan for eventual replacements.

What would be included in the Performing Arts Center project?

Our existing Performing Arts Center would be renovated with new seating, stage, lighting, sound system, finishes, and accessibility improvements.

What is a “Student Union”?

At Rockford High School and East Rockford Middle School, student unions would offer collaborative spaces for learning, gathering, and student support. Portions of each building would be reimagined and renovated into student-centered collaboration spaces.

Which schools would receive air conditioning?

The following eight elementary schools are currently without air conditioning, while the rest of the school buildings already have air conditioning. Adding air conditioning would provide parity across school buildings.

• Belmont Elementary 
• Cannonsburg Elementary 
• Crestwood Elementary 
• Lakes Elementary 
• Meadow Ridge Elementary (Gym Only)
• Parkside Elementary 
• Roguewood Elementary 
• Valley View Elementary 

Which schools would receive a new gymnasium or cafeteria?

Four elementary schools are currently without separate cafeterias and gymnasiums, while the rest of the school buildings already have separate spaces, providing parity across district buildings.

• Belmont Elementary
• Cannonsburg Elementary
• Lakes Elementary
• Valley View Elementary

Ballot Language:

ROCKFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOND PROPOSAL

Shall Rockford Public Schools, Kent County, Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Two Hundred Thirty Million Dollars ($230,000,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds, therefor, in one or more series, for the purpose of:

        …equipping, re-equipping, furnishing and refurnishing school buildings and facilities; remodeling, erecting and acquiring school buildings, facilities and additions to school buildings and facilities; acquiring, installing, equipping and re-equipping school buildings for instructional technology; purchasing school buses; and acquiring, preparing, developing, improving and equipping athletic fields, play fields, playgrounds, structures, facilities and sites.

The following is for informational purposes only:

     The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2026 is .73 mill ($0.73 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a 0.00 mills net increase over the prior year's levy. The maximum number of years the bonds of any series may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is thirty (30) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 2.59 mills ($2.59 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation). 

(Pursuant to State law, expenditure of bond proceeds must be audited and the proceeds cannot be used for repair or maintenance costs, teacher, administrator or employee salaries, or other operating expenses.)

Voting Information: 

How do I register to vote? 

• Visit Michigan.gov/vote to register to vote online.
• It is recommended by the Secretary of State to register by mail by October 21, 2025, to participate in the November 4, 2025 election. 
• Individuals may also register in-person at their local clerk’s office through election day, November 4, 2025, with the required documentation. For assistance in obtaining the address of your local clerk, visit Michigan.gov/vote.
• For voter eligibility questions or registration issues, visit mvic.sos.state.mi.us/Home/RegisterToVote

Voters may register in person through November 4, 2025 (election day) with the required documentation.

Polls open Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 7:00 am until 8:00 pm. 

You can vote absentee! Ballots are available as early as September 25.

How is an absentee voter ballot obtained?

Registered voters must complete and submit the application to receive their absentee voter ballot. To vote by mail, fill out the application and sign it, and then return it to your local clerk. For assistance in obtaining the address of your local clerk, Visit Michigan.gov/vote here. When filling out the application, if you check the box to be added to the permanent absentee voter list, you will get an application mailed to you before every election.

If you registered to vote after absentee voter ballot applications were mailed, applications may be obtained online at Michigan.gov/vote. Absentee voter ballots are available as early as September 25 through election day, November 4, 2025.

Find more voting information at: Michigan Voting Info

The proposed restoration and renewal will cost the average hometown $202.50 per year, which breaks down to $16.88 per month, or $0.55 per day for a home value of $450,000 with a taxable value of $225,000. 

• All funds are publicly reported on the district's website and an independent audit is conducted annually to ensure transparency and accountability.
• Funds generated from this proposal will be distributed to local public schools to maintain existing programs and services offered to students. 
• This proposal authorizes funding that school districts have relied on since 2017, while state and federal funds remain uncertain.