Voters in the Van Buren Public Schools district will be voting on a bond proposal in the Tuesday, Nov. 4, election. In Van Buren Township, it is the only question on the ballot. In Sumpter Township, it depends on which school district the voter lives in, but there are no Sumpter Township questions on the ballot other than schools.
The bond proposal is also on ballots in Ypsilanti Township and Canton Township in the areas that are part of the Van Buren Public Schools.
In the city of Belleville, besides the bond proposal, two council seats are open and because of a technical difficulty the current council members holding those seats will not be on the ballot. Council members Jeremiah Beebe and Julie Kissel, now holding those seats, have to run as write-ins to be reelected. They are the only ones who have filed as write-in candidates.
The bond proposal will appear on the ballots with this wording:
Van Buren Public Schools Bond Proposal
Shall the Van Buren Public Schools, Wayne and Washtenaw Counties, Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Seventy-Seven Million Dollars ($77,000,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds therefore, in one or more series, for the purpose of: erecting, furnishing, and equipping additions to school buildings and facilities; erecting, furnishing, and equipping school buildings and facilities; remodeling, furnishing and refurnishing, and equipping and re-equipping school buildings and facilities; acquiring sites; acquiring, installing, equipping and re-equipping school buildings for instructional technology; and preparing, erecting, developing, improving, and equipping playgrounds, playfields, athletic fields and facilities, structures and sites?
The following is for informational purposes only:
The estimated millage that will be levied for the purposed bonds in 2026 is 0.38 mill ($0.38 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a 0-mill net increase over the prior year’s levy. The maximum number of years the bonds of any series may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is thirty (30) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 1.32 mills ($1.32 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation).
The school district does not expect to borrow from the State to pay debt service on the bonds. The told amount of qualified bonds currently outstanding is $65,875,000. The total amount of qualified loans currently outstanding is $0. The estimated computed millage rate may change based on changes in certain circumstances.
(Pursuant to State law, expenditure of bond proceeds must be audited and the proceeds cannot be used for repair or maintenance costs, teacher, administrator or employee salaries, or other operating expenses.)
I hope they don’t pass this. VBPS wastes SO much money. They gave the old football coach and his staff absurd amounts of money for job descriptions they never fulfilled (community liason, whatever that is). The leadership there is self interested and NO improvement has been made in ANY academic data point. This can easily be validated by accessing open sources such as michigan.gov midata.
Actually improvement the learning there THEN ask for money.