All districts — Voters will consider renewing a millage Nov. 4 that has generated millions of dollars across 20 public school districts in Kent ISD over the past eight years.
The Kent ISD School Board Monday unanimously approved putting on the fall ballot a proposal to renew the 0.9 regional enhancement millage, originally passed in 2017. If approved by voters, the renewed 10-year millage would take effect in the 2027-28 school year and is projected to generate approximately $35.6 million annually for public school districts and charter schools in Kent ISD.
The current millage is set to expire in the 2026-27 school year. Due to the Headlee Amendment, it has been reduced to 0.8498 mills. The proposal seeks to renew the existing levy and also add 0.0502 to restore the levy to the full 0.9 mills.
The fully renewed millage would cost an owner of a home with a $200,000 taxable value about $180 annually.
“The enhancement millage is important because it enables funds to be distributed to all public school districts in support of regional services such as career and technical education, special education, class size reduction, reading and math instruction, as well as other district needs,” said Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Gorman.
Related Story: How districts have used enhancement millage funds
“In these uncertain times, the enhancement millage would help schools stabilize funding for an extended period. If districts were to lose these funds, many school resources in (the ISD) would be lost,” he said. “Districts would not be able to provide the same level of service that they have been able to provide for the previous decade.”
Revenue from the millage would be distributed entirely on a per-pupil basis to every K–12 school district and charter school within Kent ISD. Schools are required to use the funds to maintain existing programs and improve services offered to students.
For the 2024-25 school year, each public school district received about $330 per student, said Kevin Philipps, Kent ISD assistant superintendent of administrative services. The renewed millage would hike that amount to about $357 per pupil for public and charter schools.
Although the current enhancement millage doesn’t expire until 2027, next year’s midterm election will feature a crowded ballot with multiple issues and races, Gorman said, adding that placing the renewal on November’s ballot keeps the focus on K–12 education.
With federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds that helped fund various expenses during the pandemic no longer available, the enhancement millage will be critical to sustaining support for students across the ISD, Gorman said.
What is an Enhancement Millage?
When Michigan voters passed Proposal A in 1994, it overhauled the public school funding system. Recognizing the possibility that state funding alone might fall short in some communities, lawmakers included a provision allowing intermediate school districts to request up to 3 mills in additional funding for a period of 20 years or less. Kent ISD is now seeking a renewal of its 0.9-mill levy under that provision.
Up until 2018, only public schools received funding from the enhancement millage. That year, the state legislature amended the school code requiring that charter schools share in the revenue of regional enhancement millages.
Since the millage was approved in 2017, it was grandfathered in with only public schools receiving the funding and that will continue until it expires, Philipps said.
To get the 0.9-mill renewal on the ballot, school boards, both public and charter, representing more than 50% of students in the county had to vote to put the proposal on the ballot before Kent ISD’s board could move forward with final approval. Gorman said 97% of the school boards the Kent ISD served have supported the measure.
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