June 10, 2025

June 10, 2025 Update

Good afternoon,

Our school year has officially ended. The final act of the 2024-2025 school year occurred last night, June 9, when the Board of Education had its last meeting of the school year. The new school year officially begins July 1.

At our Board of Education meeting last night, the Board approved our final budget amendment for this school year and approved a proposed budget for 2025-2026.

Because all of us love budgeting, here are some highlights:

  • 2024-2025 Final Budget amendment
    • Total revenues: $112,614,930
      • Revenues were down from our projection by $1,541,253
        • This was primarily due to the state not increasing our per pupil allocation for the 2024-2025 school year
          • Our per pupil allocation is $9,608 for 2024-2025
          • Our per pupil allocation for 2023-2024 was also $9,608
    • Total expenses: $118,565,672
      • Expenses were fairly close to our projections.
      • A planned deficit was exacerbated by the lack of an increase to our funding.
  • 2025-2026 Proposed Budget
    • Projected revenues: $111,563,086
    • Projected expenses: $116,825,133

As of today, the legislature has not passed a school aid budget for 2025-2026. Historically, the Governor’s Office, the Senate, and the House pass budget proposals. Then, because each proposal is typically different, they negotiate and pass a final school aid budget.

This year that has not happened. The Governor and the Senate have passed budgets. But, the House has not as of today.

So, our district, like every district in the state does not know our level of funding for next year. Legally, school districts are required to pass a budget by June 30 of each year. Our Board of Education did that on Monday evening. When we know the actual school aid budget for next year if we need to make changes to our budget we will.

Something that you could do to help our district would be to contact our state legislators and encourage them to pass a school aid budget. Our state legislators are:

Representative Bryan Posthumus – BryanPosthumus@house.mi.gov

Senator Mark Huizenga – senmhuizenga@senate.michigan.gov

A simple message would be as follows:

School districts need to know their funding for the 2025-2026 school year. As you are aware schools must pass a budget for the 2025-2026 school year by June 30.

Last year our school district did not receive an increase to our per pupil allocation. This significantly impacted our revenue.

This year, in order to keep up with inflation and to support our staff, I would encourage you to pass a school aid budget that supports the work our district does each day.

A simple email from our Rockford families would help move the budget process along at the state level.

Our school district had a wonderful 2024-2025 school year. Here are some highlights:

  1. Our updated strategic plan – RAMS XII - was created and approved.
    1. We have made positive forward movement on implementing goals connected to RAMS XII
  2. Edgerton Trails officially opened.
  3. New language arts curriculum – Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) – was implemented in DK-5
  4. New social studies curriculum was implemented at middle school
  5. The new 6th grade wing at North Rockford Middle School was finished.
  6. Our achievement continues to improve and demonstrate that our commitment to the PLC process is effective.
    1.  The top 50 Michigan school districts for each school subject, via test scores - mlive.com
  7. We had great arts programs
    1. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
    2. Seussical the Musical
    3. Into the Woods Jr.
    4. Our marching band finished 2nd in Division One at the marching band state competition
    5. Orchestra took a trip to NYC
    6. Choir toured Croatia and Italy
    7. Next week our Spanish Immersion middle schoolers go to Costa Rica
  8. Athletics had a successful year.
    1. This spring:
      1. Girls’ water polo won a state championship
        1. This makes two years in a row that the girls won the state championship
      2. Boys’ and girls’ lacrosse advanced to the state semifinals
      3. A girls’ tennis doubles team won a state championship
      4. Our girls’ track team finished second at the Michigan Track Coaches Association championship
      5. At the state individual track meet we had several outstanding performances:
        1. 4x400m Relay (8th)- Audrey Zollman, Lola Davey, Sadie Plain, Sarah MacIntosh
        2. 4x100m Relay (7th)- Macy VandenHout, Greta Caprathe, Maiya Corrigan, Lillian Green
        3. 400m Dash (7th)- Sarah MacIntosh
        4. Pole Vault (7th)- Maiya Corrigan
        5. Shot Put (8th)- Liv Hosford
        6. Long Jump (5th)- Greta Caprathe
        7. Discus (6th)- Liv Hosford
        8. High Jump (1st)- Greta Caprathe
        9. High Jump (3rd)- Layla Visser

The 2025-2026 calendar is on the district website. Our first day of school will be August 25.

I hope you have a great summer. I will send periodic updates this summer as needed.

Steve


Dr. Steve Matthews
Superintendent
Rockford Public Schools

RAMS Logo: Learn, Connect, Contribute, SucceedParkside Discussion:

Questions about Teacher Collaboration

This document is intended to answer questions that have arisen as we have begun a conversation about repurposing Parkside Elementary to an Early Childhood Center.

The importance of teacher collaboration:

When schools have only one teacher per grade level, students miss out on the advantages of a collaborative teaching team working together daily. This includes teamwork, shared expertise, and differentiated instruction. Having at least two grade level sections in each building where teachers are collaborating together ensures that every child receives a high-quality, well-rounded environment that supports their learning. 

1. Stronger Teaching Through Collaboration and Consistency in Learning

  • When teachers work together in a building, they easily share ideas, lesson plans, and strategies that help improve instruction for all students.
  • Research shows that when teachers collaborate, student achievement improves significantly (Visible Learning, Hattie, 2009).
  • With multiple teachers at the same grade level, all students at a grade level in the building receive a similar, high-quality education.
  • Schools that follow the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model (DuFour, 2004) see higher student success rates because teachers meet regularly to discuss student progress and adjust instruction based on data.
  • Research (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011) shows that when teachers work in teams, they are less stressed, more motivated, and stay in the profession longer.

2. Better Support for Different Learning Needs

  • Every child learns differently, and when multiple teachers work together, they can group students flexibly to give them more personalized instruction.
  • Struggling students get extra help, and advanced learners receive challenges that keep them engaged.
  • Studies on differentiated instruction (Tomlinson, 2001) show that when teaching is tailored to a student’s level, learning improves dramatically.
  • When teachers work as a grade level team, they can identify areas where students are struggling and quickly provide support to keep them on track.
  • Common assessments across classrooms help ensure that every child is making progress and getting the support they need.
  • In multi-section grades, students may have opportunities to interact with different teachers, which helps them adapt to different teaching styles and personalities.
  • Flexible grouping across classrooms allows students to work with peers at similar academic levels, keeping them challenged and engaged.

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