School districts left battling repairs despite recent Department of Education grants
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LANSING - Thirty-one school districts in Michigan will get financial help to address failing roofs, heating and cooling systems, and other essential repairs.
But the vast majority of public school infrastructure remains underfunded, leaving many districts to shoulder the cost of repairs on their own.
The Michigan Department of Education announced $224 million in competitive infrastructure grants across the state this year.
According to the department, districts submitted nearly $1.8 billion in grant requests while available funding paid for less than a fifth of that amount.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District received the largest grant at nearly $32.8 million for heating, ventilation and air conditioning and roof projects at 17 schools.
Among the other grants recipients were Alcona Community Schools ($1,992,205), Iron Mountain Public Schools ($3,101,274), Lansing School District ($4,386,435), and Hesperia Community Schools ($2,913,040). The smallest grant went to Ida Public Schools at $250,000.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenn Maleyko said in a statement that the grants will help move the state toward its goal of providing adequate funding to schools.
The department "will continue to strongly advocate for investing more state dollars in school infrastructure," said Maleyko.
Traverse City Area Public Schools was not among the districts awarded funding this year.
The district has its own long-term system for tackling essential repairs, said Christine Thomas-Hill, its assistant superintendent of finance and operations.
"It's really about future planning and taking care of items before they become critical -- knowing what's coming in future years so that it doesn't just come by surprise," Thomas-Hill said.
Otherwise, she said, "All of a sudden all these things need to be done at once."
Thomas-Hill said that the district has created three tiers for repair priority:
Priority one includes items at the end of their useful life that need to be replaced in one to three years. Priority two are items marked for replacement in three to five years. Priority three are items that would be replaced for efficiency.
While districts get a per-student allocation of state aid for operations every year, there is no annual allotment for building repairs or replacement.
Thomas-Hill said that means many districts have priority one needs.
Asked how the Traverse City district manages to still complete necessary repairs, Thomas-Hill pointed out one thing: community.
"We are very, very fortunate to have a community base that supports schools overwhelmingly," said Thomas-Hill.
"Sharing information and getting community input and buy-in is the most important thing to make sure that we don't have all of our items listed under priority one," she said.
Traverse City voters approved a $180 million bond for the district in 2024. Under an eight to 10 year plan, the district is installing over 26 new boilers and upgraded LED lighting, with a focus on energy-efficient equipment, she said.
Now district officials feel they have made major improvements to take care of priority one items that were identified 15 years ago, she said.
But budgeting for those expenses can be challenging.
When modernizing the nearly 100-year-old Central Grade School, for example, the district budgeted $40 million, only to see its projected price tag jump to $52 million, Thomas-Hill said.
Aaron Jimenez is a journalism major at Michigan State University with a minor in sports journalism. As a journalist, he is interested in covering community topics, politics, and sports. He is from Tinley Park, Illinois, and began at MSU in the fall of 2023. He is looking forward to writing about stories where society and sports intersect.