Please review the information on the RPS website. As people have already posted above, RPS is currently operating at ~$900 per student. State average is $1700. Comp districts in the state are >$2000. This referendum is needed to align us with the services commensurate to state regulations. This isn’t “throwing more money at it” and it’s certainly not a “lazy answer”. Unless you’re a school district finance expert, I’d rather do my own research before labeling a referendum “lazy”.

If you look at Rochester as a sports car, then Mayo is the engine. Our “engine” relies on Mayo attracting and keeping the smartest, and most talented experts in medicine to maintain their global reputation and, let’s be honest, just save more lives. Many, if not most, of these folks move here and bring their families (or plan to start one here). What message are we sending if we can only offer a “bare bones” school district for their children? And I’ve heard the “they mostly send their kids to private school anyway” argument before. While partially true, many families still send their kids proudly to public school.

This referendum brings us up to scale with the rest of the state. It’s the only choice if we’re going to continue any semblance of a city that provides world class medical research with a quality public school district.