REED CITY — A closely watched ballot item request by Reed City Public Schools was for an $88.1 million bond.
Voters in that district also overwhelmingly rejected the proposal.
“In a sense, I don’t think about it as a money thing, I think about it as growing our future,” said Reed City resident Deanna Murphy.
The bond proposal requested upgrades for a variety of infrastructure components.
Superintendent Michael Sweet said the money is needed to fix a host of problems that come with being in older buildings. The classroom he’s standing in has 71 years of deterioration.
Here’s what he said is needed.
“We’re going to add some safety walks and upgraded parking lots, so parking lot traffic flow will be improved and put a secure entrance at the middle school,” Sweet said. “The second one was to increase some academic spaces through performing arts for band, choir, things like that. We were going to renovate an existing gymnasium into an auditorium.”
The lockers are even rusted out; that’s another thing the school hoped to replace.
But for more than $88 million, the list goes on.
“Part of this would have been renovating 1954 area classrooms up to a current standard of what learning environments should be. And the fourth one was to increase some athletic spaces,” Sweet said.
But now none of it will happen, at least not yet.
Sweet said the plan is to reevaluate and possibly put it on the ballot next year.
“We’ll talk to community members, we’ll talk with staff, we’ll put together a new plan and bring it back to the community again,” Sweet said.