Mattawan voters will decide the fates of a pair of school bond proposals on November fourth. One would cover the cost of two new elementary school buildings. The other would pay for math and science wings at the middle and high schools. The district saw similar proposals fail twice in 2011. But supporters say they’re hopeful their campaign will succeed this year.
Lisa Benscoter is with the Vote Yes for Mattawan Schools campaign. She says the district’s current elementary buildings are leaky, old and well over capacity.
“We run into areas where there’s no storage space or there’s no meeting space or there’s no place for small group work or anything like that,” she says.
Proposal One would provide more than 60 million dollars to build two new elementary schools. The district would borrow the money, then repay it through a millage. Less money is at stake for Proposal Two. But Benscoter says it’s important too, to relieve crowding in the middle and high school’s science classrooms.
“So when they’re doing labs, they’re kind of tight together and it’s just that lab or sitting at a desk, there’s not a whole lot of room for them to get together in groups,” she says.
Supporter Teca Lewellyn says those schools also need the buses and better Internet service Proposal Two would pay for.
“It’s not just, you know, kids being on their cell phone. This is about research and doing homework and being part of the real world,” she says.
Lewellyn and Benscoter acknowledge that voters have rejected similar proposals in the past. But they say they’ll try again if this round fails, because the district needs to improve its facilities and resources to meet students’ needs.
