Jenison’s $117M bond would pay for new school, building upgrades
GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The May 7 election includes a $117 million bond proposal for Jenison Public Schools that, if passed by voters, would pay to build a new elementary school and modernize several facilities.
The school district has seen a wave of recent population growth and the superintendent says the bond is necessary to keep up.
“We’re using every inch of space in our buildings right now and in fact, we’ve got spaces that weren’t intended to be classroom spaces now that are being used for instructional spaces. So this will allow us to have modernized learning spaces that meet the needs of our kids,” Superintendent Brandon Graham said.
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The addition of the 5th and 6th grade upper elementary will free up more space in existing buildings to accommodate preschool students.
“We opened a preschool building our early childhood center in 2018 and that has 400 more students in it than when we opened the doors. And so we know that the governor is looking at universal preschool for all and our program is already bursting at the seams,” Graham said.
The bond would provide funding to revamp the cafeteria area and create a more centralized main entrance to Jenison High School.
“We’ll be doubling the size of our cafeteria and common space for our community to come in and out of our building. Also, our main offices and counseling offices will be right at the front of the building where our community comes in,” Graham said.
Counseling services and administration offices would be brought together into the same space. The bond would also fund the creation of a shared maintenance and transportation hub campus.
The superintendent said the idea for the bond proposal was spurred in part by parent feedback.
“We have been blessed with a lot of outstanding district community spaces. Our community has approved a JCA, a fieldhouse. When we went to the community for our strategic vision, we asked them, ‘What are the areas that we can improve on?’ And we heard our teaching and learning spaces are really those spaces that need to be improved for our kids,” Graham said.
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He said the proposal would not change the current property tax rate.
“Our bond proposal would be based on the current debt millage rate of 8.5 mills and we’re able to maintain that and then go out for this bond proposal without raising that millage rate for our community,” Graham said.
If voters approve the bond, it will take time before students will get to use the new spaces.
“If this were approved in May, we would have a year of design in front of us and then four years of construction. So if approved, we would be able to open the upper elementary building the fall of ’29,” Graham said.
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