On November 3rd, a new referendum was passed. The new referendum in terms of the school district families works to be promising towards positive change. Right away, new maintenance will be performed on many school buildings throughout the Janesville school district and money will be saved to limit the loss of teachers.

As well as many other schools in Janesville, Craig High has an old building with outdated facilities. Maintenance might also include new windows or roofing as well as replacing boilers.

However, the most notable construction change may be a new, secure entrance to Craig. The referendum will not only work on the schools needs but also address urgent facility needs.

However, this referendum is decided on by many voters. The official name is the District Operational Needs Referendum. 

“If approved by voters, the impact of the facilities referendum would be a $5 increase in school-related taxes for every $100,000 in assessed value, beginning with tax bills in December of 2021,” said Mr. Phillips, Assistant Principal at Craig High School.

The second thing is that the operation of the district, as stated in the name of the referendum, still struggles with the current revenue limit of the district. This is a state-imposed limit, which has continuously decreased.

Why this is a problem is that the amount of money allowed has decreased faster than our ability to calculate costs and savings in case of small enrollment sizes.

The referendum hopes to fight to keep all teachers employed to help student learning with a better student-teacher ratio. If teachers were to leave, class sizes would increase.