{"id":427363,"date":"2026-01-24T16:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/427363\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T16:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:22:12","slug":"nearly-half-of-oakland-county-schools-pass-on-millions-in-safety-and-mental-health-money-the-oakland-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/427363\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly half of Oakland County schools pass on millions in safety and mental health money \u2013 The Oakland Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost half of Oakland County\u2019s school districts have opted not to accept money for student safety and mental health services that came with strings attached, according to the state education department.<\/p>\n

Of 27 districts, 12 gave up their share of over $321 million in available funds, known as Section 31aa funds.<\/p>\n

The strings? Districts who wanted the money had to \u201cagree to be subject to a comprehensive investigation, must affirmatively agree to waive any privilege that may otherwise protect information from disclosure in the event of a mass casualty event, and must agree to comply with a comprehensive investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Districts that opted-out:<\/p>\n

Pontiac
Royal Oak
Berkley
Southfield
Novi
Madison
West Bloomfield
Brandon
Holly
Huron Valley
Lake Orion
Lamphere<\/p>\n

\u201cHuron Valley Schools opted out as a result of the constitutional violations and the coercive nature with which the statute was written,\u201d said Huron Valley Superintendent Paul Salah. \u201cHuron Valley is involved in a lawsuit regarding the conditions for 31aa dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LakeLake Orion voted to opt-out on the final day and forgo $1.13 million in funding.<\/p>\n

photo by Matt Fahr<\/p>\n

Using Salah\u2019s estimate that Section 31aa money equaled around $135 per student, the 12 county districts turned down $6.9 million from the state. The per-student pay out to districts will be based on how many districts opted-in statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district decided to opt-out of the 31aa funding opportunity for this year due to concerns with the grant language which included a conditional waiver of certain legal privileges in the event of a mass casualty incident,\u201d Southfield Chief of Staff James Jackson said. \u201cThis is currently being appealed through the Michigan Court of Appeals; however, there wasn\u2019t a final ruling from the court prior to the opt-out deadline. Therefore, we decided to opt-out to preserve all privileges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson estimated the district lost $500,000.<\/p>\n

The Lake Orion school board held a special meeting on Dec. 30 and voted 6-0 to opt-out of over $1.13 million in funding.<\/p>\n

According to meeting minutes, the financial impact resulted in a $550,000 decrease in the budget.<\/p>\n

The board cited \u201cserious concerns about vague definitions\u201d and \u201cuncertain legal implications\u201d as their reason for opting-out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board discussed rescinding the acceptance of funding due to the privilege waiver requirement remaining in place, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the district\u2019s operational rights over financial gain,\u201d the minutes read.<\/p>\n

The West Bloomfield board voted 6-0 on Dec. 3 to recommend the district pass on $700,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district was effectively forced to opt out of the Section 31aa grant because key conditions of the funding could not be clearly explained,\u201d the district said in a statement.\u00a0 \u201cDespite repeated requests, the district did not receive clear answers regarding how a \u2018mass casualty event\u2019 is defined or whether accepting the grant would waive attorney-client privilege only during the grant period or indefinitely beyond it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith those unanswered questions and the issue now under active litigation, the district could not responsibly opt-in without full and reliable information about the legal implications,\u201d the district said.<\/p>\n

According to the publication Bridge Michigan, about 982 or 82% of the state\u2019s schools and districts, excluding nonpublic schools, have opted in and agreed to the conditions.<\/p>\n

Several\u00a0 Oakland County private schools \u2013 such as Oakside Prep Academy, Great Lakes Academy and Crescent Academy \u2013 also turned down the money.<\/p>\n

More than 30 districts and intermediate school districts sued the state education department and state school superintendent challenging the privilege language does not meet the requirements of the state Constitution and is unconstitutionally vague.<\/p>\n

The case was heard by Judge Sima Patel in the Michigan Court of Claims and on Dec. 17 she ruled that the new privilege provisions would remain in place.<\/p>\n

The districts have appealed the Court of Claims ruling and no date has been set for the appeal to be heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost half of Oakland County\u2019s school districts have opted not to accept money for student safety and mental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[203187,97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-427363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-31aa-safety-and-mental-health-lake-orion-novi-huron-valley-berkley","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}