Michigan Voters Weigh Nearly $4 Billion in School Bonds

LANSING, Mich. — School construction money is on the line across Michigan on Election Day, with 42 districts asking voters Tuesday to approve bond issues that add up to nearly $4 billion.

Bonds are only part of the school-tax picture on this ballot. Voters will also settle 14 requests to raise sinking funds and nine to renew them, 14 proposed increases to school operating millages and 37 renewals, and seven questions from intermediate school districts, four of them new increases and three renewals. A sinking fund works like a savings account fed by property taxes, letting a district pay for projects as money arrives rather than taking on debt.

District leaders say the push reflects buildings that are wearing out. One statewide analysis puts the repair and upgrade bill for Michigan public school buildings at close to $23 billion, more than the entire state K-12 budget for this fiscal year. Lansing has started to help: Michigan handed out $224 million in school infrastructure grants to 31 districts in July, with another $100 million still available, though state officials concede that does not cover the need. The Michigan Department of Education has said it will keep pressing lawmakers for more building money.

The single largest request comes from Dearborn Public Schools, the third-largest district in the state, which is seeking $1.5 billion. The district plans to build six new preschool-through-eighth-grade buildings and carry out major renovations at its remaining elementary and middle schools over about 20 years, with Fordson, Dearborn and Edsel Ford high schools keeping their buildings but getting extensive remodels.

The first phase in Dearborn would put secure entry vestibules at 24 schools and pay for restroom upgrades, roof repairs, technology, athletic facilities and replacement buses. The district says every school would eventually be air conditioned and that the debt would be repaid over roughly 30 years.

Dearborn voters will see a 3.14-mill levy on the ballot, but the district says homeowners in the City of Dearborn would keep paying the same combined city and school rate of 26.30 mills because other district and city taxes would drop to offset it. Homeowners in the Dearborn Heights part of the district would see their school millage rise by 0.96 mill.

Elsewhere, Eastpointe Community Schools wants $99 million for classroom and restroom work and new heating and cooling equipment, including at a high school nearly 100 years old that lacks classroom air conditioning. Several districts are back after earlier defeats: Gwinn Area Community Schools is trying for a fifth time with a $24.95 million request, Comstock Public Schools wants $23.7 million after voters said no in November 2025 and again in May 2026, and Brighton, Hopkins, Meridian and Yale are offering smaller plans than the ones voters turned down in May.

Polls across Michigan are open until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Filed under: Plymouth MI Education News