More than 3 million. That’s how much Lafayette’s new parking lot cost. The parking lot was just one of the many projects completed across the Rockwood School District throughout the summer. These projects were funded through Prop 3, a proposition that restructured the district’s tax rates.
“[Prop 3] was a ballot issue back in November, 2023, [that was] overwhelmingly approved,” Cydee Byous, the Chief Financial Officer of the Rockwood School District said. “It was a transfer of debt service levy to the project levy.”
By approving Prop 3, the district was able to transfer taxpayer money from debt repayment levies into project levies, allowing them to directly purchase capital items, rather than issue bonds for the items.
Capital items are classified as anything that costs more than $100 and is used for more than a year. This includes a range of things, from parking lots and playgrounds to Chromebook and SMART boards.
Prop 3 helped the district save taxpayer money, since bonds – similar to loans – carried interest costs, for an average of 20 years, often outlasting the lifespan of the capital item.
“For example, student Chromebook are purchased on capital funds, so before Prop 3, they were purchased on bonds, when the average life of a bond is at least 20 years,” Byous said. “So we were paying interest for 20 years on a Chromebook that only lasted four or five years.”
The district does have some bonds left to pay off after the transfer levy, but according to the official Prop 3 website, the 14 cents of taxpayer money allocated to paying them is enough to repay the bonds.
Even though Prop 3 was passed in 2023, this past summer was the first time it was used for district projects.
“The tax collections [we] received last December were the first year of collection that funded all the projects that happened over the summer,” Daniel Steinbruegge, Rockwood School District director of finance said.
According to Byous, Lafayette’s parking lot was just one of the many maintenance projects around the district that was long overdue.
“Prior to the passage of Prop 3, a significant number of maintenance projects were deferred due to lack of funding,” Byous said. “They were delayed because Prop 3 funding was not yet available and bond issue funds had all been expended.”
Along with Lafayette’s new parking lot, these projects included a new playground at Green Pines Elementary, HVAC renovations in three different buildings, 4000 new Chromebook and iPads for students, and safety upgrades around the Rockwood School District.
LHS Principal Karen Calcaterra said that with Prop 3 funding, Lafayette was able to installed a new dishwasher and supplied incoming freshmen with brand new Chromebook.
“We have our own internal money that we use to make improvements every year, but our revenue stream isn’t something that could cover, say a parking lot, but annually we try to upgrade our campus,” Calaterra said.
Prop 3 will continue to fund capital projects across the district in the coming future. The district has divided capital projects into three sections: facilities, safety and technology.
Each school also has their own priority projects planned. To see a specific school’s completed and upcoming priority projects, visit the official Prop 3 website. According to Steinbruegge, one big project for the whole district is replacing the HVAC systems in all of the Rockwood buildings.
While projects for the 2025-26 school year have yet to be finalized, Calcaterra believes Lafayette will have all of their SMART boards replaced, since Marquette and Rockwood Summit had theirs replaced this summer.
Along with the SMART boards, Calcaterra thinks some upcoming projects are replacing the turf field, the sound system in the theater and adding a new scoreboard. None of these projects are finalized, but a meeting is set to take place in October to decide projects for the year.
Both Byous and Steinrbuegge will be at this meeting, and are also a part of the Capital Planning Advisory Committee. This committee meets quarterly and works closely on the budgeting and spending of Prop 3.
The committee is made up of staff members and educators from all across the district, and according to Byous, the committee believes Prop 3 was a success.
“[The committee] said that there were no surprises in the way that Prop 3 was being rolled out exactly as promised during the campaign,” Byous said.
