At its regular meeting on Nov. 13, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education approved a non-homestead millage resolution to go on the Feb. 27 ballot.
To continue to levy and receive 18 mills from an operating millage, the board needed to adopt the resolution for the renewal of the existing millage that is expiring in November 2024. This will allow the district to add the millage on the ballot for the February election.
This proposal will allow the school district to continue to levy the statutory rate of not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per-pupil foundation allowance.
The remaining 1.3197 mills are only available to be levied to restore millage lost as a result of the reduction required by the Headlee amendment to the Michigan Constitution of 1963 and will only be levied to the extent necessary to restore that reduction.
So the voters will decide on renewing the operating millage proposal in the Van Buren Public Schools, Wayne and Washtenaw counties, by 19.3197 ($19.3197 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of eight years, 2025-32 inclusive, to provide funds for operating purposes. The estimate the district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2025 is about $13,248,583 that year.
In other business at the Nov. 13 meeting, the school board:
• Heard building presentations on school improvement initiatives from officials of Savage and Edgemont elementary schools and Belleville High School;
• Heard consultant Rob Kakoczki of Plante Moran discuss the bidding aimed to bring structured cabling and AV and security technology systems to McBride Middle School and Savage and Tyler elementary schools. A total from the 2019 bond money was determined as $790,270, but Kakoczki said there is a hope an alternate bid could offer a savings of $169,543 from that and he will get more information before the successful bidders and the total cost are voted on at the next meeting;
• Approved hiring April Crawford as a resource room teacher at Owen Intermediate School as of Nov. 6 and Alicia DelToro-Watson as a CI-teacher at McBride Middle School as of Nov. 7;
• Approved hiring the following non-instructional employees: Erica Lafferty as a paraprofessional at Savage Elementary as of Oct. 30; Courteney Glasper as a Security Tech Specialist in the administration department as of Nov. 6; Barbara Furman as a paraprofessional at Tyler Elementary, as of Nov. 6; and Alganett Moore in Food Service at Belleville High School as of Nov. 13;
• Approved 25-30 student council members from BHS to attend the Feb. 23-26 2024 KLAA Student Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids, traveling by bus. Cost is $300 per student and options for fund raising are available to all students with the goal to cover 100% of the student fee; and
• Heard Racqel Bean tell the board that her daughter is getting sexually accosted under the stairway at BHS by one young male student and she has already talked to the principal and superintendent and others asking them to keep the boy away from her without results. She said she has already filed a report with the police. A meeting was set up with her to meet with School Supt. Kudlak on Nov. 15.
Information from the meeting supplied by Barbara Miller.