District needs taxpayers to pass bond issue.
MANISTEE -- Leaders at Manistee Area Public Schools are proposing a massive project, a $21 million restructuring project. While the district is losing students and money they say investment is still needed and will save them in operating costs down the road.
"Really the goal is to save jobs," said Andrew Huber the principal of Manistee High School.
The plan means closing 2 schools and expanding the rest to run more efficiently, but the district can't do it alone. They'll need help from taxpayers. A $21 million dollar bond issue would cut the district from five schools to just three.
Huber said, "We have some buildings that are ending the age of their usefulness. Rather than spend money on keeping them open it would be a better investment to expand some of our current facilities."
Madison and Kennedy Elementary schools would close. Students in grades 4-6 would move into the middle school. K-3 graders would move to Jefferson Elementary.
"It would be configuration of grades, but a lot of educational advantages to this model," said Huber.
Middle school students would move into the high school and the district would use bond money to expand the building in the process. This will also give more students in the district the opportunity to use the high school's new pool. Principal Huber says if the bond passes the school district would invest a lot of money back into the community through construction bids.
"Anytime we have some kind of bond issue we want to make sure local contracts are a part of the process. That would be a big hope of ours," said Huber.
Voters will decide on the school bond on August 2. If approved it would raise county taxes by 2.4 mills.
