Oct. 18—ROCHESTER — The total value of assets owned by Rochester Public Schools grew by more than $25 million since 2022, a rise of 4.5%.

The district issued its annual list of fixed assets on Tuesday, Oct. 18, during a School Board meeting. The total value increased from roughly $600 million to $628 million, some of which is related to the construction of new buildings tied to the 2019 referendum.

"Land improvements could be parking lot projects or playground projects," RPS Chief Administrative Officer John Carlson said. "A lot of this would be directly related to the construction of the new buildings."

The change in value included $172 million of additions and $144 million of reductions.

Land improvements increased from $18.1 million to $31.5 million.

The district's land assets increased from $9.9 million to $10.1 million. Carlson said that increase was tied to the land swap with the city of Rochester for the construction of Longfellow Elementary, which is now in its second year of operation.

The value of the district's buildings increased from $411 million to nearly $526 million. That change included $121.7 million of additions and $6.9 million of "disposals."

"We moved a bunch of the construction that was in process the last couple years and put it in the books now officially," Carlson said.

Following an infusion of voter-approved funding in 2019,

RPS built Overland Elementary and Dakota Middle School.

The district

also demolished and rebuilt Bishop and Longfellow elementary schools.

In the case of Longfellow, RPS built the new version in a different, but nearby location after exchanging land with the city of Rochester.

The report also showed a net addition of $33 million for "construction in process." Carlson said that's related to the

three-year renovation of John Marshall High School

that's underway.

In addition to land and buildings, the district also has to list other assets valued at $5,000 or more. That increased from $20.2 million to $23.4 million.

The district is also required to list leased equipment, including software licenses. That total grew from $2.3 million to $4 million.

Carlson also briefly talked about the process of getting rid of equipment. If one building is getting rid of something, it will sometimes be moved to another use at another building.

Other times, though, the district will sell equipment it no longer needs. Last year, the District sold $121,000 worth of inventory.