2025 Referendum

Sound Fiscal Management

• The school district has worked hard to maximize the use of grant funds since the last referendum. This has allowed the district to not have to make major cuts going into the 2024-2025 school year as federal grant dollars from COVID run out.

• Partially through referendum funding, but also because of the creative use of grant funds, the district has invested over three quarters of a million dollars into promised building projects and important maintenance and repairs. This includes:

  • 1. • A new playground - as promised in the referendum

       • New energy efficient lighting in the gym

       • A new elementary bathroom - as promised in the referendum

       • A new phone system-the old system was wearing out and was expensive to repair

       • To ensure greater safety, a calling system was purchased to better communicate with the community during emergencies and poor weather

       • A new sign in front of the school for better communication with the community - the old sign was worn out

       • A section of the roof was repaired and a new heating unit was installed

       • The flooring in the old gym was refinished for the first time in decades

       • A generator was installed that will power the entire school in the event of power loss - as promised in the referendum

• After an extended study, the district decided to not build a bus garage. The bus company agreed that it did not need one and a lot of community feedback seemed to indicate that people felt a bus garage was a waste of money. Instead this money is slated to be used to do an extensive HVAC (heating and cooling) update. This update will save the district thousands of dollars in future repairs and maintenance as the current system is three generations out of date and requires specialized parts and repairs. 

• The White Lake School District has also spent time promoting our district to parents. As part of this we have seen our open enrollment numbers go from four students coming to White Lake from other areas to over twenty at times. While we lost students when the group home left, we have more than made up for this loss of numbers with students choosing White Lake over their local school district.

• We have begun a maintenance schedule to replace flooring in classrooms and exterior doors. Floors and doors are significantly beyond normal replacement and many are beyond repair. This past year we replaced the front door to the school, which was becoming a security concern, and updated/replaced the worst of the classroom floors. The plan is to replace doors and floors every summer, with replacement of additional classroom floors and the doors on the old gym scheduled for this summer.

Link to our Building and Grounds Planning document