Repairs to essential resources (like HVAC and electrical systems) for the current building are comparable to building a new facility. This provides our community with the chance to build a facility that meets the current needs of our students.

We are asking Marshall taxpayers to extend the current millage through 2039 to cover the costs of this Bond. Albion residents are being asked to begin paying a millage to help cover the costs related to the construction of a new elementary school in Albion as well as the facilities in the city of Marshall.

Current MPS buildings are older than school districts in our area and have been maintained over the years. Older buildings cost more to maintain due to wear and tear, outdated materials, etc. Unfortunately, many times code restrictions prevent major modifications or alterations to existing structures making building new facilities more cost efficient.

Not only does it decrease maintenance costs, it provides a consistent and uniform playing surface that can be used by both communities. The current natural fields use must be strictly limited in order to maintain the integrity of the surface. Access would increase exponentially with an artificial surface allowing daily use of the green space by groups like the Marching Band, football and soccer teams, and city recreation departments.

As our athletic department currently uses every available gym space (including every elementary building) within the city of Marshall for basketball, volleyball, and wrestling programming. Practices are scheduled into the late evening and on weekends to accommodate each team. The lack of access to facilities creates scheduling conflicts for other programming with travel teams, the recreation departments, and after-school activities as well.

An Auxiliary Gymnasium is a facility that provides expanded practice space as well as rooms to host tournament games or events that may occur simultaneously.

The last bond that passed was in 2010, approximately 11 years ago.

There are several reasons why our buildings have been closed in the past year: Covid-19 outbreaks, staffing, and other health issues like the flu. The other is due to high heat index, which several buildings lack the infrastructure to manage effectively. Included in this bond are HVAC updates to improve our ability to keep schools open through more extreme temperatures and to improve our air filtration systems to increase our ability to stay open through possible future outbreaks. While there are many improvements to physical structures, including sports facilities, the bond also impacts every learning space in the district.

The millage associated with the bond will only be applied to property taxes paid by homeowners. We cannot speak to how landlords will address the expense.

Essentially a bond is a loan that the government takes out for a specific purpose that the community pays back through taxes. Bonds are similar to home improvement loans except it is for a school, and instead of just the homeowner paying, the cost is spread out among the taxpayers that live within the school district.

Each buildings’ needs were assessed over the course of two years by a Facilities Needs Assessment Committee. The repair costs for Harrington Elementary are comparable to building a new facility. The current school is also at capacity with enrollment at its highest in over five years.

Yes, every building in the district is included in the bond and is proposed to receive technology updates and new classroom furniture at a minimum. Each student and community member will have access to updated green spaces, athletic fields, and sports complexes.

While most furniture can last a long time there are necessary updates. With this bond, we will be investesting in “Flexible Seating” in some learning spaces, which has been a time-proven, research-driven, innovation in classroom furniture that allows students seating options to fit their needs.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to honor privacy, we did not collect demographic information with our most recent survey. When attempting to analyze the data, it became apparent that there were inherent flaws with an anonymous survey. We were unable to validate that only residents of Albion were responding, that each person only voted once, and that everyone had access and opportunity to vote. Therefore, the survey data is not valid. MPS will need to seek out more feedback from stakeholders over the coming months.