Saginaw Township residents, and parents especially, will see a new school superintendent take office before they are asked to decide on another millage proposal for building upkeep and improvements.
The process to replace Bruce Martin, who announced in June that he will step down at the close of the calendar year, has priority over when to go back to voters again. Martin had led the push for a millage ever since he arrived in the township five years ago, previously serving in Millington.
Board of Education President Arik Smith reflects the outlooks of school leaders after a devastating defeat of a May proposal for $242.9 million, with 5.75 mills that would have cost a $180,000 home owner about $500 per year.
“We are moving ahead with district business while we conduct our superintendent search,” Smith says. “Those are our next steps.”
The board meets at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth monthly Mondays, including this coming Monday, Sept. 11
A whopping 77 percent of voters said “no” last spring, a landslide that stunned Smith and his board peers. They knew they faced tough odds, but they at least expected a closer result.
“I don’t know that a specific reason exists” for the wide margin, he says, “but a number of people expressed that they understood the need. The amount of the proposal was what held them back.”
Inflation caused the $242.9 million to run 10 times higher than construction of MacArthur High, now White Pine Middle, in 1961, and nearly 8 times more than for Eisenhower, now Heritage High, in 1971.
Nearly half of the money, $113.4 million, would have gone to Heritage, with the remainder split among the district’s seven other school buildings.
A need for structural security, during an era of armed school invasions, was emphasized even more than cracks and leaks in structures that are an average of 61 years old. Heritage’s late ’60s/early ’70s “education revolution” circular design, with 100 entry points and weak sight lines, was presented as a sort of poster child for potential danger.
During public hearings for the millage proposal, a signal of the upcoming defeat took place when skeptics asked why the doors simply could not be nailed shut instead of spending nearly a quarter million dollars — not only at Heritage, but at all the schools — for the sake of security.
As a result, Smith and other school leaders are forced to defend their existing product.
“Our schools remain safe and secure,” he says, “but not to the extent we had hoped for with the millage.”
For details of the defeated school tax proposal, click here.
