Plainwell Community Schools seeks $40M bond for new building six months after last rejection

Six months after voters rejected a $42 million bond proposal for the Plainwell Community School district, the district lowered the amount by about $2 million and will ask again on Tuesday.

A school district flyer says that school facilities still need security for current doors and windows; new turf and track; new gyms; finished multi-use space; new HVAC; new parking lots; new playgrounds and fencing; and a new preschool building.

A Facebook post indicates that the district bought five acres of land for a new preschool building. It’s asking taxpayers to fund the building.

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

The district bought the land because the campus is landlocked, Plainwell Community Schools Superintendent Matthew Montange told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email. “Parcels of land in our community are valuable and rarely come on the market. In the event the land is determined not to be needed, it can always be sold at a later date. Completion of AC at Cooper and Starr Elementaries is a priority, playgrounds have been completed to the level specified in the 2019 bond but would be expanded if the new bond passes.”

“The State of Michigan does not provide funding for infrastructure improvements; school communities must vote to fund these improvements,” according to the district’s flyer.

Historically, there has been no money from the state to fund local school district infrastructure projects, according to Bob Wheaton, director of the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Public and Governmental Affairs.

“There have been small sums of money in the last two years for this purpose,” Wheaton wrote in an email to CapCon.

The new bond proposal follows a new trend of Michigan voters rejecting more school bonds after the average request doubled from $21.7 million in 2000 to $44.6 million in 2024.

Schools usually ask for around 40-60 bonds annually, according to a CapCon analysis of a state website that tracks school bonds since 1996.

School districts have asked voters to approve 60 school bonds so far this year.

Of those, 29 have passed, and 32 have failed.

In 2020, schools asked voters to approve 61 school bonds. Of those, 48 passed and 13 failed.

In November 2019, Plainwell voters approved a $48 million bond. In May 2024, voters rejected a $42 million bond proposal by voting 1,133 to 1,368.

On Nov. 5, voters in Michigan will decide on 22 school bonds seeking an average of $40 million.