LADY BUDGETDOWN: SAGINAW TOWNSHIP COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
WHEN THE MONEY IS LIMITED, WHAT GETS FIXED FIRST?
Dear readers, a reader recently dropped Lady Budgetdown a breadcrumb. But this one wasn't really about how much STCS is spending.
It was about priorities.
The reader asked me to take a look at the facility projects STCS has been completing and approving while other documented building problems continue to appear in Board minutes.
Well.
That required opening a few more pages of the ledger. And once I started putting the dates in order, I had a question too. So rather than answer it for anyone, let's walk through the timeline.
📜 JULY 2023
Heritage High School parking lot sealcoating and striping came before the Board for approval.
Keep that date tucked away.
We'll come back to it.
📜 NOVEMBER 2025
Following the November bond defeat, Superintendent Jamie Kraatz told the Board there had been "a great deal of misinformation" and said the district's needs remained unchanged.
The district needed to regroup and determine its next steps.
📜 DECEMBER 2025
Those facility needs weren't just sitting on a future-project list.
STCS reported a waterline break in the second-story penthouse at Heritage High School.
An automated valve did not close, and water leaked onto scoreboard equipment in the pool area.
📜 EARLY 2026
STCS prepared another bond proposal.
And buried inside the 58-page Preliminary Qualification application were individual facility projects with actual estimated costs.
At Arrowwood Elementary:
"Repair drains & replace carpet" - $100,000.
At Sherwood Elementary:
A gym-related project - $50,000.
Those are important numbers to remember.
📜 FEBRUARY 2026
Board minutes reported that a bathroom ceiling at Hemmeter Elementary had collapsed due to water leaks.
Later that month, the minutes described the roof and bathroom ceiling as having collapsed.
📜 MARCH 2026
The Board approved $53,162 to Bell Landscaping for athletic-field maintenance at White Pine and Heritage covering the 2026 and 2027 sports seasons.
Again, I'm not saying athletic fields shouldn't be maintained. I'm putting another receipt on the table.
📜 APRIL 2026
Arrowwood appeared again.
The Board discussed drainage issues, including what the bond line item actually included.
Later that month, after another flooding event, STCS reported that Spence Brothers was involved and would be reviewing structural plans.
The district was still trying to determine whether there was a blockage, break or backup involved in the drainage problem.
📜 MAY 2026
The $94.235 million bond proposal failed.
Arrowwood didn't disappear from the minutes.
STCS reported that Spence Brothers was continuing to work on the flood issues and that some assessments would occur after the school year ended.
📜 JUNE 2026
And this is where the ledger gets particularly interesting.
STCS reported that Arrowwood had now been through TWO floods.
The district was looking at potentially using district funding to replace the flooring.
Drainage and tree-root issues were still being examined.
And the minutes also reported flooding and water in the gym. That caught my attention.
Because STCS was discussing replacing flooring damaged by repeated flooding while the district was still investigating the underlying cause of the flooding itself.
And Arrowwood's drainage and flooding problems aren't exactly a brand-new entry in the ledger. The site's history with these problems stretches back decades.
So where does replacing the damaged flooring fall in the order of operations when the underlying problem is still being investigated?
Fix the damage? Absolutely.
But what is the plan to stop the damage from happening again?
Meanwhile, after deciding not to immediately return to voters with another bond proposal, STCS told the community that its facility needs remained and that it would continue working through projects using available General Fund and sinking-fund sources while also searching for grants.
In other words:
The bond failed.
The needs remained.
And STCS would begin checking projects off using the money it already had available.
Then came the 2026–27 budget.
General Fund Building Operations was adopted at approximately $6.34 million.
The final 2025–26 figure had been approximately $8.56 million.
That's a 25.9% reduction.
Now, receipts require context.
The $8.56 million 2025–26 figure was unusually high and increased substantially during that budget year. So I'm not going to call this a simple 25.9% "maintenance cut."
But when STCS says it intends to work through remaining facility needs using available dollars, the size of the Building Operations appropriation certainly belongs in the conversation about priorities.
And then Lady Budgetdown turned another page.
📜 JULY 2026
STCS advertised another project:
Heritage High School Parking Lot Reseal, Crackfill and Stripe.
Remember July 2023?
📜 AUGUST 2026
"Consideration of Approval of Heritage High School Parking Lot Sealcoating, Crack Fill and Striping" appeared on the August 10 Board agenda.
So let's be very clear about what I'm NOT saying.
I'm not saying the parking lot doesn't need maintenance.
I'm not saying athletic fields shouldn't be maintained.
I'm not saying every dollar spent on one project could legally or practically have been moved to another.
And I'm certainly not saying the General Fund or sinking fund could somehow replace a $94 million bond proposal.
I'm asking about PRIORITIES.
Because when money is limited, prioritization becomes more important, not less.
STCS has documented recurring flooding.
It has documented drainage problems.
It has documented water intrusion.
It has documented a ceiling collapse.
It identified and priced some of these needs in its own bond application.
And after the bond failed, STCS told residents it would use the General Fund, sinking fund and grants to continue checking projects off the list.
So Lady Budgetdown has a question.
How does STCS decide which projects get checked off first? And how do the projects get prioritized when the budget for said priorities is cut 25.9%?
When Heritage parking-lot sealcoating and striping came before the Board in 2023, what circumstances led to another resealing, crack-filling and striping project being brought forward three years later?
Where do recurring flooding, drainage and water-related building problems fall on that priority list?
And when available dollars cannot address everything at once, what criteria determine which project moves to the front of the ledger?
And while I already have the ledger open, another name keeps appearing in these facility updates.
Spence Brothers.
After the April Arrowwood flooding, the minutes say Spence Brothers was involved and would review structural plans.
In May, the minutes say Spence Brothers was continuing to work on Arrowwood's flood issues.
Which left Lady Budgetdown with another rather basic question:
How much?
How much has STCS paid Spence Brothers for this work?
For that matter, how much has STCS paid Spence Brothers in total over the last several years, and for what?
Which projects were competitively bid?
Which were performed under an existing contract or construction-management arrangement?
Were any procured another way?
What were the scopes of work?
And where can taxpayers see the invoices?
I don't know.
And I'm not going to turn the absence of those answers in the minutes I've reviewed into an assumption.
But when the same contractor's name repeatedly appears in facility updates without the minutes showing residents the dollars attached to that work, I think asking to see the ledger is perfectly reasonable.
Perhaps this breadcrumb just created another one.
How much has STCS paid Spence Brothers, and for what?
As for the larger question, I don't have that answer either. That's why I'm asking. Because sometimes a breadcrumb doesn't lead to a smoking gun. Sometimes it leads to a timeline.
And sometimes the timeline is enough to make Lady Budgetdown put down the quill, adjust her spectacles and ask:
What gets fixed first?
With receipts and respect. 🪶
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