Year in Review 2024: Education in Racine County

Here are some of the notable local education stories of 2024.

RUSD capital referendum work

Progress occurred on the Racine Unified School District’s 30-year, $1 billion capital referendum, including two renovated schools opening at the start of the 2024-25 school year.

The elementary portion of Jerstad-Agerholm K-8 School received an addition and upgrades, and the middle school portion was renovated at a cost of $55.5 million.

Starbuck was renovated from a middle school into an International Baccalaureate K-8 building at a cost of $50.5 million.

In addition to Starbuck sixth and seventh grade students from last school year, the K-8 building has students who previously attended Jefferson Lighthouse and West Ridge elementary schools, which both closed at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

As part of RUSD’s long-term plans, Roosevelt Elementary is scheduled to close at the end of the 2024-25 school year. Most Roosevelt students will attend Jerstad-Agerholm.

Construction work on a new Red Apple K-8 STEAM School began this year after delays.

The delays resulted in a higher guaranteed maximum price for construction work on the new building that resulted in a longer project timeline, inflationary costs and winter construction conditions.

The new Red Apple school at 1012 Center St. was initially set to open in August 2025, but it is now scheduled to be substantially completed in January 2026.

Students will attend the current Red Apple school at 914 St. Patrick St. until the new building is ready.

Red Apple focuses on science, technology, education, arts and mathematics education.

Capital referendum-funded construction work is occurring at several other schools.

Olympia Brown Elementary is scheduled to expand into a K-8 school by August 2025, as is Schulte school.

Updates to S.C. Johnson Elementary are scheduled to be completed by August 2025, and so is renovation at Horlick High School.

Raymond School

The Raymond School Board came under intense scrutiny beginning last fall, and that continued this year.

Raymond School, 2659 76th St., is a K-8 building with about 400 students.

In January, a judge dismissed a civil lawsuit alleging that the Raymond School Board acted illegally by not following two motions approved during an August 2023 annual community meeting.

In January, board members Gwen Keller and Janell Wise unsuccessfully challenged recall petitions submitted against them.

A recall election occurred in February, a few weeks after Keller resigned from the board.

In the recall election, Wise earned enough votes to remain on the board, and Mike Pauers was elected to fill the open seat caused by Keller’s resignation. Their terms end in April 2025.

In March, Mitchell Berman filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission against Keller and Wise alleging that they committed election fraud related to the February recall election. A complaint decision has not been issued.

Berman also filed a complaint in fall 2023 with the WEC related to the April 2023 Raymond School Board election. A complaint decision has not been issued.

In April, voters reelected Audrey Kostuch and elected Ed Robinson to serve three-year terms on the Raymond School Board.

Kostuch, the board president, remains on the board despite community members calling for her to resign because they argue she supports a discriminatory organization and violated board policies.

In July, Patty Hren was appointed to the Raymond School Board until April 2025.

Hren replaced Amanda Falaschi, who resigned in June.

Michael Leach became Raymond School District permanent superintendent starting July 1.

Leach replaced interim superintendent James Heiden, who led the district for six months after Michael Garvey resigned as superintendent at the end of December 2023.

In August, Raymond School parents expressed concern with how a significant number of staff departures will affect the 2024-25 school year.

In October, a teacher left the district, alleging discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.

Former Raymond School Principal Jeff Peterson filed a federal lawsuit in October arguing that he was illegally discriminated against and retaliated against because of his sexual orientation and that his civil rights, privacy rights and First Amendment rights were violated.

Peterson is seeking several actions in the lawsuit, including reinstatement as Raymond School principal.

In September 2023, Peterson was placed on paid administrative leave and filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development alleging the school district was discriminating against him because he is gay.

Peterson subsequently filed complaints alleging retaliation and a violation of the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Law.

In December 2023, the Raymond School Board voted not to renew Peterson’s contract at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

This November, a DWD investigator found probable cause that Peterson faced discrimination, retaliation and a violation of the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Law by the Raymond School District.

As a result, a hearing will be held to determine if illegal actions occurred.

Earlier this month, the Raymond School Board admitted to violating Wisconsin open meetings laws as part of a lawsuit settlement.

Referendums

Most Racine County school referendum questions were rejected this year.

Two referendums failed and one passed in November.

Union Grove High School’s $34.9 million capital referendum passed.

Voters declined Waterford Graded School District’s non-recurring four-year, $12 million operational referendum.

WGSD also sought a five-year, $20 million operational referendum in April 2024 that failed.

Voters rejected a non-recurring four-year, $3 million Raymond School operational referendum in November.

This February, voters rejected the Burlington Area School District’s non-recurring four-year, $11 million operational referendum.

A Waterford Union High School capital referendum totaling about $92 million also failed in February.

Referendums have become more common in Wisconsin because state aid has decreased relative to inflation for more than a decade. That means most districts require more money from local taxpayers to operate.

An operational referendum helps cover expenses associated with running a school district, such as employee pay, benefits, heating and electricity. A capital referendum funds building construction.

State aid for public schools was previously tied to inflation but has not been since fall 2009, resulting in less money for districts.

In 2022-23, state funding was $3,235 less per student than if it had been tied to inflation since the 2009-10 school year, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

There will be multiple county referendums in April 2025.

RUSD is considering a five-year, $190 million non-recurring operational referendum. The RUSD Board plans to vote in January on adding the referendum question to ballots.

BASD will have a three-year, $13.8 million non-recurring operational referendum in April.

WGSD will have a four-year, $12 million non-recurring operational referendum in April.

Raymond School plans to have an operational referendum in April. The School Board in January plans to vote on the referendum length and amount of money.

Gajewski leading RUSD

The RUSD Board chose Soren Gajewski as permanent superintendent in March.

July 1 was Gajewski’s first official day as permanent superintendent. He has a two-year contract worth $245,000 per year.

Before that, Gajewski was RUSD interim superintendent for a year and acting superintendent for two months starting in May 2023.

He has worked at RUSD for nearly 20 years and been an elementary school principal, K-8 school principal, deputy chief of schools and chief academic officer.

State report cards

Most Racine County school districts scored lower on annual report cards in 2023-24 than they did in 2022-23, but the districts performed at a similar level overall.

Of the county’s 14 public school districts, eight received lower scores than in 2022-23, while six had higher scores.

Of Racine County’s seven private school districts for which data was available on all students, five received lower scores than in 2022-23, while two had higher scores.

RUSD improved on the report card for the second straight year.

RUSD earned a two-star score of 56.4 in 2023-24, meaning it “meets few expectations,” according to state criteria on report cards released by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

The school district is just shy of a three-star, “meet expectations” rating of 58.

Gajewski believes the district will meet expectations in 2024-25, but he cautioned about the impact of budget challenges at RUSD and around the state.

“I would be very, very confident that we will be meeting expectations next year based on the work that we’re doing,” Gajewski said. “The decrease in available resources, that’s the dark cloud.”

Budget issues

Indeed, the relative lack of state investment in public schools has resulted in budget challenges for many county districts, which is why several are going to referendum in the spring.

The state has “failed to meet the inflationary costs time and time again,” said Luke Francois, WUHS superintendent. “We are not keeping pace with what it takes to educate kids in the 21st century.”

In addition to state funding not keeping pace with inflation since 2009-10, the state revenue limit for schools has not increased in several years, and federal COVID-19 pandemic aid was no longer available to schools starting in 2024-25.

RUSD’s 2024-25 budget reflects eight-figure cuts to programs and staff that were necessitated because the district was facing a projected general fund shortage of $34 million.

To balance its budget, RUSD cut 154 full-time equivalent staff positions and decreased department budgets by 5% in 2024-25, among other actions.

Because its February referendum failed, BASD had to reduce its 2024-25 general fund budget by about $4.8 million.

The school district cut a few dozen staff positions, closed an elementary school, reconfigured grade levels and reduced the number of school days in 2024-25, among other actions.

Because its April referendum failed, Waterford Graded reduced its 2024-25 budget by $1.75 million. That included eliminating 12 staff positions, adjusting employee pay and benefits, reducing department budgets and deferring maintenance work.

Last month, the WGSD Board approved borrowing $3.5 million to help pay for operating expenses this school year.

That was the first time WGSD has required short-term borrowing to pay for operational costs.

If the April 2025 referendum doesn’t pass, the district will likely need to short-term borrow again.

Shortly before its November referendum failed, Raymond School applied for a one-time, $600,000 state loan to help cover essential operational expenses. That loan was recently approved.

District officials do not expect state funding to significantly improve in the next few years.

“It’s very bleak,” Francois said. “My anticipation is that there will be no change to the state funding formula for the next decade or longer. You’ll see continued shortages of teachers and support staff, substitute teachers. … You’ll get larger class sizes.”

RUSD Board President Jane Barbian hopes “the state finally realizes the importance of supporting public education and comes through with a little bit more funding.”

If that does not occur, difficult decisions will continue being made, ones that are more likely to directly impact classroom learning.