H-PT Scholenband narrowly passes | News, sports, jobs

HOUGHTON — Houghton-Portage Township Schools’ $23 million bond proposal for an early childhood center at Houghton Elementary School and other facility upgrades won a narrow victory Tuesday night.

The measure passed 1,820 to 1,790 in unofficial results released Tuesday evening.

“On behalf of the Houghton-Portage Township Board and all of our stakeholders, we are grateful to everyone who helped with the proposal, and thank the community for supporting and passing it forward,” Chief Inspector Anders Hill said on Wednesday. “We are humbled by the responsibility and appreciate the community that invests in us.”

The bond measure will extend the current millage rate from its previous end date of 2029 to 2031, then decline for the remainder of the 30-year measure.

The plans call for the construction of a new early childhood center at the primary school, which would house new classroom space for the Nursery and Young 5 classes, with the potential for space for 4-year-olds. In the high school building, it will fund the creation of a robotics lab, modernize and renovate facilities such as the wood shop and science labs, and add a new playground for high school students at the current bus stop location.

The district sought the bond in response to overcrowding problems at its schools, where enrollment has increased 8% since 2013.

The proposal received extensive public criticism from the HPT School District citizen group Concerned Citizens. The group had criticized the cost of the proposal, which would be $46 million with interest. It had also suggested that the district impose more enrollment limits in response to overcrowding, noting that 47% of district enrollments came from outside the district, most through the school program of choice.

Scott MacInnes, a group member and former Houghton city manager, said he received calls Wednesday from people asking him to explore options to contest the outcome. He said he was disappointed with the outcome, but said it would be “full speed ahead” for the district.

He said people were most surprised by the enrollment numbers and the amount of existing debt the district had.

“We put out the information that the school board didn’t want to release so that people could easily calculate what it was going to cost them, what the total amount of the issue was,” MacInnes said. “I think we have been able to figure out the numbers for the registrations. The biggest problem I see is the impact it will have on the other smaller districts. That will be devastating for them.”

On Wednesday, Hill said the district would work to preserve the community “involved and involved” through the following steps. He had no comment on the timeline for the project, saying it was pending certification of the vote.

Four candidates also ran for two seats on the school board in the district. Michael Salmi, who was appointed to the board last year, received the most votes with 1,370. Incumbent Brad Baltensperger collected the second-most votes with 1,229. Challenger Jason Evans finished narrowly behind with 1,226 votes, followed by incumbent Nels Christopherson with 1,050.