Advocacy group will promote Rochester Public Schools' proposed referendum
Apr. 2—ROCHESTER — An advocacy group is starting to raise awareness about Rochester Public Schools' possible referendum before the district has even solidified its plans.
The interfaith organization Isaiah, which focuses on social issues such as housing, education and health care, will hold a public forum on April 13 at Mayo High School to organize efforts to help promote the district's referendum.
"If you don't have a good school system, it really drags down a community," said Paula Craigo, who's helping lead the initiative. "We want to make sure that the message is clear and that people get a better understanding of why they keep asking for money."
District officials have been speaking for months about the possibility of putting another referendum before voters. But it wasn't until a study session on March 27 that they began to articulate how a referendum this year might differ from the one that failed in November. Although the district has not finalized its plans, Superintendent Kent Pekel indicated
the district could ask voters
to approve an operating referendum of up to $20 million a year.
The school board will revisit the issue again April 23. It is then scheduled to vote May 7 on whether to hold a referendum.
Like the district itself, Craigo said he and others in Isaiah have been talking since January about supporting the district's next referendum. Isaiah was also involved with promoting the referendum the district put forward in November last year.
During its upcoming forum, Craigo said organizers plan to come up with a series of next steps for coordinating Isaiah's efforts around the campaign.
In addition, the forum also will include student-led tours. Craigo said that one of the challenges promoters are trying to overcome is how to communicate the importance of the district's proposed levy to residents who don't have children or grandchildren in school. Offering tours, she said, is a way to help give people a tangible sense of what the district's levy would go toward.
Although Isaiah is focused on the actual passage of the referendum, the forum also will offer a broader look at what the city's education system should look like in the long run. A statement about Isaiah's upcoming event described it as "a vision of what we want our future to look like, what that will take, and what we are willing to do to get there."
Craigo reiterated that to the Post Bulletin, saying that a city that has a world-class health care community should also be able to have a renowned education system.
"Let's think big and bold," she said. "We could have the best education system in the state or the country ... we just need to make it happen."
When: 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 13.
Where: Mayo High School, 1420 11th Ave. SE, Rochester.
