By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
The Oakland County Regional Enhancement Millage is slated to be on the ballot for August 4.
“Our board still has to approve the ballot language, probably later this month, and it will go to the clerk’s office in April,” said Kenneth Gutman, Oakland County Intermediate School District superintendent.
The enhancement millage aims to help close the gaps in funding for school districts in Oakland County by providing an annual, per-pupil allotment for each district. The millage would be for 1.5 mills, or $150 annually for a property with $200,000 of property value, and would be levied county-wide for six years. It would generate an average of $781 per pupil, per year, and the funds would be unrestricted.
School boards in the county had to approve putting the initiative on the ballot. The Brandon board of education, for example, voted in favor of having it on the ballot, as did other school districts representing over 51% of students in the county, allowing the placement of the milage on the ballot.
“This didn’t come from the ISD, this came from our 28 local superintendents,” said Gutman. “A lot of it had to do with a number of different factors across the county, and every district would have a different use for these funds.”
Gutman cited issues that districts face including declining enrollment, uncertain funding amounts from the state, and issues of improving academic performance.
“Declining enrollment is pretty significant,” he said. “When you lose students, you don’t lose them in one spot or one building or one classroom, so you can’t make reductions fast enough.”
Districts are able to use these funds however they need, including reducing class size, retaining teachers and other staff, facility improvements, or improvements to programming, such as curriculum, math or literacy programs.
“The ISD doesn’t receive any funding,” said Gutman. “All of he money goes to their local schools. We won’t get a penny, but we’ll do all the work to be a pass through.”
Based on the 2025 enrollment data for Brandon, the district would receive an average of $1.5 million per year.
“They can be used for any purpose we deem necessary,” said Brandon Superintendent Carly Stone. “We want to ensure our students have the best environment and learning opportunities, and the funds would be used to enhance that experience. That could look like purchasing new buses, new technology, compensation for staff, some capital improvement projects we need to do. These are unrestricted funds, so whatever we need them for.”