District overview
Racine Unified School District
Funding structure, how it compares to peers, and where major projects stand.
How is Racine Unified School District paid for?
Racine Unified serves the City of Racine and nearby communities in Racine County. Wisconsin caps how much a district can raise per student, so general state aid and local property tax pay for most of the budget. A nine-member elected Board of Education adopts the budget and tax levy and hires the superintendent, Soren Gajewski. The proposed 2026-27 budget is $519.1 million across all funds; the main operating account (Fund 10) is $318.4 million.
State change for 2026-27
The state allows $325 more per student in the revenue limit (about $4.1 million), but general state aid did not rise, so the increase falls on property tax.
Tax levy
The 2026-27 levy on the board's Oct. 26 agenda is $122,609,226. The Sept. 28 hearing showed a rate of about $8.07 per $1,000 of property value.
Referendum money
The budget deck says the 2025 operating referendum raises revenue to about $30 million in 2026-27. A separate 2020 capital referendum funds building projects.
Vouchers and open enrollment
Private school voucher tuition (3,938 FTE students) adds about $2.7 million to the levy; open enrollment per-student amounts rose, adding about $1.3 million.
This page rests on board agendas, minutes and budget slides. The Oct. 26 budget and levy vote result was not in the collected minutes, and the district website could not be collected.
Where the district stands
Major projects
School building projects (Case, Wadewitz, Gifford, Goodland, Walden III, Gilmore, Park and more)
under wayThe board authorized building projects in January 2024 and approved a resolution on May 4, 2026 setting limits for selling up to $37,155,000 in notes to pay for them. Construction price caps were presented for Walden III (Feb.) and Gilmore Fine Arts (Apr.), and a construction manager for Park High School and architects for Park and Bull Early Education were approved.
- Walden III construction price presented
- Gilmore price and Park High architect on agenda
- Board approves note-sale parameters (6-0)
- Work session: construction manager for Bull Early Education Center
Funding
General obligation promissory notes and a 2020 capital referendum
2026-27 budget and tax levy
adoption scheduled Oct. 26, 2026The board held the budget hearing on Sept. 28 and scheduled adoption of the budget and a $122.6 million levy for Oct. 26. The adopted version raised the Fund 10 levy by about $1.6 million from the interim budget while general aid fell about $1.8 million.
- Interim budget on agenda
- Public budget hearing
- Adoption on agenda
Funding
State aid, property tax levy, referendum revenue, federal and other funds
Giese site (5120 Byrd Avenue) redevelopment
sale approved Sept. 28, 2026The board voted 4-2 (two abstaining) to sell the Giese site to the city's development authority as part of a housing partnership with the city and a developer.
- Board votes to sell
Funding
Property sold for $1 to the City of Racine Community Development Authority
Recent news
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Practical guides to school phone policies, district budgets, and administrator hiring.
Explore resources →Built from the Board of Education's BoardDocs portal (agendas, minutes and attachments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026) and the district-run YouTube channel. The district website (rusd.org) is an Apptegy site and was not collected.
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