Voters Will Soon Decide on $23.5 Million School Bond

East Lansing voters will decide the fate of a proposed $23.5 million bond for East Lansing Public Schools (ELPS) in the May 7 special election. 

The goal of the bond is to improve safety, security and accessibility across the East Lansing school district. The project is divided into three main aspects: Improvements to East Lansing High School (ELHS) and MacDonald Middle School, and opening a new district administration building.

“The needs for the bond were identified in a few different ways,” Superintendent Dori Leyko said. “From family, student and staff input.”

Following a series of scary incidents last winter that raised safety concerns, the district sent out a survey to receive feedback from the community. The district also received safety recommendations from a consulting company in the winter of 2022.

Bond would allow for increased security measures in district.

The changes for ELHS will focus on safety and accessibility.

The estimated cost for the high school is around $13.7 million, over half of the allocated funds.

This will go towards new construction of a secure entrance and office area,  replacing interior door hardware for all classrooms and offices; upgrades to security cameras and security management system; upgrades to the HVAC control system; expansion of cafeteria seating; and the addition of an interior ramp.

“It is a big issue that we didn’t have interior ramps in our two-story buildings, in our middle school and high school,” Leyko said. “We really saw a need to increase both accessibility for those students, but also inclusion, because it doesn’t isolate them by having to find an elevator and needing to go outside to switch floors.” 

The district administration building is being allocated approximately $7.2 million, 30.5% of the bond proposal. 

The central administration is currently located in the basement of the high school, and has been for the last several years.

“The central office being at the high school was never really a long-term plan,” Leyko said. “Going back about a dozen years, the board and administration at the time had an admin building behind the softball field of Timberlane [Street]. They used to be housed in a building over there and then, the board at the time, chose to close Red Cedar school. So, the board closed that building and moved the central admin over to the high school, temporarily, until Red Cedar closed at the end of school year 2013-14.” 

The plan of the board was to renovate Red Cedar and place central administration in that building. When a new board majority came in, the board wished to reopen Red Cedar, and administration was left without an office. 

Being placed in the basement of the high school has had mixed results. 

“One pro is the accessibility for us to the high school administrators and staff, is really high here because we’re right downstairs,” Leyko said. “We’re able to interact and support quite a bit.”

However, in the past couple of years with safety issues in the district and surrounding areas (Michigan State University and Okemos), concerns about the logistics of having central administration in the high school have come up. 

“There is the importance of having decision makers and office folks available if there’s a lockdown,” Leyko said. “Our high school’s our biggest building and if the high school is to go into lockdown, me, our director of health and safety, our assistant superintendent, we would also all be locked down and we wouldn’t be able to be out working with our first responders and addressing any situation.”

Central administration also holds meetings open to the public. With these meetings being held in the basement of the high school, visitors are walking through the hallways among students. This raises another security concern. 

“By moving offsite, we’ll be better able to restrict who’s coming in and out,” Leyko said. 

The plan is to relocate central administration to a property the district already owns on Towar Avenue.

“The building has been sitting vacant, I can’t even tell you how long,” Leyko said. “It’s the property we own. It’s something we thought we could go over to and get rid of that building and improve the site with a new building.” 

With the new location being placed in Towar Avenue, the district has heard resident concerns.

A forum was held Monday (April 8), which a few community members attended to express their thoughts on the project.

“They had concerns about the additional traffic back there, but we explained to them that the building will house about 15 people, so it’s not a significant space where a lot of people and a lot of cars are coming on a daily basis,” Leyko said. 

The entrance and exit will come off of Towar Avenue. The building will also be one story to avoid blocking natural light. 

If approved, the architects will aim to complete the designs by next winer and construction of the building will commence in spring of 2025. The district hopes to start construction in the schools  in the summer of 2025. 

“I’m looking at this as a long-term home for central admin,” Leyko said.

Tax rate would stay consistent if proposal passes.

If voters support the bond, the school would collect the same 6.3 mills from rate payers as it did in 2023. If the proposal were to fail, rates would drop off, Leyko explained in an email to ELi.

On average, rate payers would pay 1.67 additional mills over a nine-year period if the proposal is approved, according to the FAQ page the district dedicated to the bond. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value a property has.

Two more information sessions on bond proposal scheduled.

The district is holding two more information sessions for residents who still have questions about the proposal.

Sessions will be held tonight, Tuesday, April 16 at 6-7 p.m. at the Snell Tower Recreation Center and Thursday, April 25 from 9-10 a.m. at the East Lansing High School Hub. The information sessions will feature Leyko, Assistant Superintendent Glenn Mitcham and district Director of Health and Safety Matt Morales.

Additionally, the district has dedicated a page on its website to provide information about the bond proposal.