Welcome

Good afternoon,

Our Rockford Public Schools Board of Education met on July 13. Here are highlights from that meeting:

1. An easement on the Meadow Ridge property that abuts Kies Road was approved with Cannon Township for the proposed walking path down Kies to Courtland. You may recall that there was a previous plan that called for the path to go behind Meadow Ridge. That plan was scrapped after further discussion with the neighbors. The new plan has the path going straight down Kies all the way to Courtland. The approved easement is for a small section of district property that will allow the path to go behind the tree line that sits on district property on Kies Rd.

2. OAK provided a construction update on work that is ongoing in the district this summer. More can be found on our website here: Rockford 2019 Bond Project Updates

3. One new staff member was approved for hire.

4. The RESPA (Support Personnel) contract wage agreement was approved.

5. The board approved the non-homestead millage ballot language. The non-homestead millage taxes businesses and second homes. The non-homestead millage is not paid on a personal residence. The State of Michigan requires every district to levy this tax in order to receive the full state school aid payment. The state anticipates that every district will levy the full 18 mills on businesses and second homes. If a district does not levy the full 18 mills the district would not receive the full state aid payment.

The ballot language asks voters to approve the full 18 mills and to approve a provision that would prevent the 18 mills from being reduced because of increasing property tax values. The Headlee amendment in state law prevents local governments and schools from receiving additional revenue just because property values rise. If property value increases exceed inflation a millage is reduced. This ballot language is necessary to ensure that our district continues to collect the full 18 mills that the state budgets for our district. If we do not levy the full 18 mills our state aid is reduced in kind. The non-homestead millage contributes over $9 million dollars to our general fund. More information will be shared in the coming weeks to ensure that our community understands this important November vote.

School starts on August 24!  The full school calendar can be found here: 2026-2027 District Calendar

It is definitely the middle of summer! I hope that you are having a great summer and still have more adventures planned before the start of school.

Dr. Steve Matthews, Superintendent

Rockford Public Schools