03 · A Voice in Rochester's Growth

Because a district whose community is hollowing out cannot sustain learning at all.
 

Schools sit downstream of the city. Every subsidy, every housing project, every development deal shapes who can afford to move here, whether their kids fill our classrooms, and how the tax burden lands on the families who stay. Those decisions are made years before they show up in enrollment, usually by people who never once say the word "school."
 

13.4% of school-age kids living inside RPS boundaries don't attend RPS. The statewide figure is 10.5%. That gap is families voting with their feet which compounds because every student who leaves takes their funding along.
 

State law already gives the school board a formal voice: when the city proposes tax-increment financing, the district has a statutory right to review and comment before a dollar moves. 
 

On the board, I'll:

• Exercise the district's TIF comment rights on every proposal. Publicly, in writing, with the enrollment and tax-base math shown so that the narrative is clear.

• Get the district into the room early for city and DMC planning conversations, before decisions harden.

• Report the leakage number every year, so the whole community can watch whether we're closing the gap.
   

RPS deserves a chair and voice of advocacy at this table, and I'll be the member who makes sure it's filled and heard.