SUPERINTENDENTS AUTHOR letter supporting Wayne County Regional Enhancement Millage

NOTE: The following letter to the editor was published in The News-Herald Newspapers.

On November 8, voters throughout Wayne County will see a question on their ballots asking them to support a “Regional Enhancement Millage” for our county’s intermediate school district, known as Wayne RESA.

While a regional enhancement millage may not sound familiar to voters, it’s an opportunity to make a tremendous investment in each and every local public school throughout our county.

As leaders of local school districts, we proudly support its passage.

It’s no secret that Lansing’s support for our local schools has fallen off in recent years. In fact, an independent study released recently showed that the state has been significantly underfunding our districts for years. Those budget cuts have forced districts to close buildings, reduce services and discontinue or scale back critically important special education programs.

While our jobs as administrators require us to make difficult decisions to balance our budgets, we are also educators who want our kids to have every opportunity available to succeed.

Unfortunately, as we’ve lost funding over the years, we’ve found ourselves too often being unable to ensure those opportunities exist while still fulfilling our responsibilities to the taxpayers.

It’s clear we need solutions that provide new, stable funding for our schools, but in today’s political climate, those solutions are not going to come from Lansing. The reality is that if we want to invest in the success of kids across Wayne County, it’s going to be up to those of us who live here to make that happen.

Thankfully, Michigan law allows local school boards to request the intermediate school district to place a countywide millage on the ballot to provide additional support for the local schools in that county. In recent months, the vast majority of school boards across Wayne County passed resolutions in support of Wayne RESA doing just that.

The proposal would be for 2 mills to be levied for a six-year period, and while this would mean the average homeowner in our region would be asked to pay around $8 per month, it would result in every single public school in Wayne County receiving an additional $385 per student in additional annual support.

Wayne RESA would collect the levy, but every penny would then by law be directly passed down to the local districts on an equal, per-student basis.

The difference this would make for our students cannot be overstated. It would allow districts to have the option to hire and retain the very best teachers, reduce class sizes, repair and upgrade buildings, increase the use of technology in the classroom, improve security and expand academic offerings across the board.

Best of all, this proposal would allow each district to make the decision of how to best spend that money without interference from Lansing or elsewhere, and every dollar would be subject to independent audit to ensure that money is being spent properly.

Asking voters to approve a new millage isn’t something any official takes lightly; however, this regional enhancement millage is a potential game changer for Wayne County schools and our students.

It’s an opportunity to reinvest in our classrooms and in the future of our communities. And it’s one we hope you’ll join us in supporting.

John Sturock, Superintendent, Allen Park Public Schools

Laurine VanValkenburg, Superintendent, Crestwood School District

John Frazer, Superintendent, Dearborn Heights School District 7

Andrew Brodie, Superintendent, Flat Rock Community School District

Amy Conway, Superintendent, Gibraltar School District

Richard Naughton, Superintendent, Huron School District

Terry Dangerfield, Superintendent, Lincoln Park Public Schools

Kimberly Soranno, Superintendent, Melvindale-Northern Allen Park Public Schools

Russell E. Pickell, Superintendent, Riverview Community School District

Marjie McAnally, Superintendent, Romulus Community Schools

Leslie Hainrihar, Superintendent, Southgate Community Schools

Ben Williams, Superintendent, Taylor Public Schools

Rodney Wakeham, Superintendent, Trenton Public Schools

Sue C. Carnell, Superintendent, Westwood Community Schools

Catherine Cost, Superintendent, Wyandotte Public Schools