School districts begin voting on new millage proposal

Faculty boards in Oakland County have begun deciding whether or not residents will vote on a countywide college enchancment proposal in August.

The rise could be a $1.5 million levy over six years, elevating $125 million within the first 12 months. Over the six years, this is able to common $781 per scholar for all college students enrolled in public colleges, public academies and constitution colleges.

Districts that enroll greater than 51% of all elementary college college students in Oakland County should move resolutions earlier than the Oakland Intermediate Faculty District takes motion by March 30 to put the millage request on the August 4 major poll.

Oakland County at present has 172,388 college students in public colleges and academies.

Brandon, Clarkston, Clarenceville, Huron Valley, Madison and Walled Lake counties permitted the decision.

“I’m in favor of providing our folks a chance to vote,” Walled Lake Faculty Board Director Marc Siegler mentioned at their Feb. 5 assembly.

The board permitted the decision 5-1.

“The general public has to resolve what they wish to do and the place they should be,” mentioned Stephanie Kaplan, Walled Lake board chair. “It should not be as much as me to resolve for the 1000’s and 1000’s of residents of Walled Lake and Commerce Township. This can be a group challenge for every particular person to resolve.”

Statewide, practically half of the coed inhabitants lives in counties with particular college populations.

They embody Macomb, Wayne, Kent, Midland, Kalamazoo, Monroe, Muskegon and Ottawa counties. These eight signify 600,000 college students, or 44% of the state’s whole scholar inhabitants.

Millages vary from 0.085 mills in Kent County to 1.9 mills in Wayne County, which has had a statewide millage since 2016.

Oakland County’s proposal would price $150 a 12 months for a house valued at $200,000. The funds acquired by the 27 county districts could be unrestricted and could possibly be used for something from salaries to development initiatives to gear purchases.

The millage would generate an estimated $5.5 million yearly for Huron Valley college students. Their board handed decision 4-3 earlier this month.

“Huron Valley Faculties is just not essentially advocating for a sure or no, what we’re advocating for is giving voters the chance to weigh in on this query,” mentioned Superintendent Paul Salah.

Clarkston Faculty Board President Stephanie Crane reiterated that time at their Feb. 9 assembly.

“I really feel very strongly and I wish to make it identified to the general public {that a} sure vote right here is just not an approval of this millage,” she mentioned.

Their board permitted the decision 4-3.

If it makes it onto the August poll and is permitted, the millage would start in December 2026.

Walled Lake Trustee Lisa West identified one of many many points voters might want to think about if the proposal makes it to the first poll.

The brand new $1.5 mill levy could be along with a 2024 permitted sinking fund and 2022 college enchancment and operations millages that Walled Lake residents already pay for.

“We requested lots of our taxpayers throughout that point,” West mentioned.

She additionally mentioned Walled Lake could be thought-about a “donor district” due to its dimension, as a result of the millage extends throughout the complete county and a few college districts would obtain more cash than their taxpayers put into it.

Different districts that will obtain much less are thought-about “recipient districts.” She estimated that Walled Lake’s surplus would exceed $2 million, which might be redistributed to different districts and public academies.

Kim Abel, a former instructor and president of the West Bloomfield Trainer Affiliation, mentioned the soundness of a devoted millage could be one of many incentives for approving the initiative.

“Further cash to districts. These days when it is taking a very long time for us to get cash from the state and approval of what that funding is, it is good to have extra assets to get funding to the districts,” Abel mentioned. “And an enchancment millage will try this.”

She is now director of the Michigan Schooling Affiliation subject workplace in Commerce Township and has been advocating for an enchancment millage for greater than 5 years.

“The funding we get from Lansing is now not a well timed course of and now we have to determine a strategy to get the income to our colleges in a assured well timed method and this can be a means to do this,” Abel mentioned. “This can be a strategy to get cash on to the districts and permit them to be a bit extra correct with their budgets.”