PORTAGE, Mich. — Portage Public Schools is asking voters to approve a bond this November, to the tune of $132.4 million dollars.
The district tells FOX 17 the bond will not increase taxes, as other bonds are expiring.
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In 2021 the district passed a bond to rebuild and renovate elementary schools.
The new Haverhill Elementary School, for example, is about to welcome students fall of 2025. The job isn't done.
“We have two more elementary schools to build new, and a third to renovate,” Portage Public Schools Superintendent Johnny Edwards said.
But the money allocated in the 2021 bond isn't enough to finish the job, superintendent Johnny Edwards explained to FOX 17. He said that the bond in 2021 was based on cost and inflation estimates that were pre-pandemic.
“So now, here we are, 2025, and what we were earmarked to do under those old values, we can no longer do, because of the escalation in costs, since COVID,” Edwards said.
The 2025 bond, Edwards explained, would make sure all the schools get built.
“This bond would help cover the gaps related to costs that have gone up over the 3-4 years,” Edwards said.
Edwards said that their existing elementary schools are 50 years old, and in need of replacement.
“We want to make sure our children have the highest quality of education. That also starts and begins in the facility in which they are educated in every day,” Edwards said.
