Janesville committee hears how curriculum, professional learning communities tie budget dollars to classroom gains

The Janesville School District Finance, Buildings & Grounds Committee on May 20 heard a presentation from district finance and curriculum staff explaining how specific budget lines support classroom instruction, professional learning and materials.

District staff said the elementary-focused presentation highlighted a Harrison Elementary video showing teachers using professional learning communities (PLCs) and SAIL (School Administrators Institute for Transformative Leadership) practices to identify student needs, plan reteaching and use formative assessments. Dr. Allison DeGraaf and finance staff described the budgets and grants that pay for those materials and professional development.

The district tied recent curriculum investments and teacher supports to measurable gains. Staff reported a 12% increase in proficiency on a unit the district tracked year-to-year after expanding PLC processes, and a 9% increase in elementary math proficiency on state-aligned measures; presenters noted the district’s elementary math gains were about 4.5 percentage points higher than the state average for the period discussed.

Presenters explained funding sources and what district spending purchases. Staff said the district used federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds and local dollars to adopt Bridges math and Wonders literacy curricula — a combined investment described as roughly $2 million — and that ongoing curriculum purchases are budgeted under Object 362 in the district accounting structure. In addition to curriculum and software, staff emphasized recurring expenditures on manipulatives, Chromebooks and staffing, and argued those line items support the classroom practices shown in the video.

Committee members and staff discussed how PLCs change instruction: teachers start with a unit assessment, determine a mastery target, analyze which students and standards need reteaching, plan targeted activities and use formative checks to confirm learning. Dr. DeGraaf noted the PLC process was used across K–12 and can help new or substitute teachers align with team expectations.

Finance staff placed the instructional spending in the broader fiscal context: the district books a large Fund 10-to-Fund 27 transfer each year to cover the local share of special education costs (staff said the budgeted transfer for the year is just over $15,000,000) and expects a receivable for local taxes of just over $10,000,000 that will be received after the fiscal year closes. Committee members asked for continued monthly reminders of what categories and object codes include the items shown in the presentation.

The committee did not take formal action on instructional spending at the meeting; staff said the financial summaries are incomplete and asked to return the documents for committee review when complete.

The presentation closed with staff thanking Harrison Elementary for the video and noting that principals and building teams have begun videotaping and reviewing their own PLC work as a professional‑development tool.