Dearest reader,
Well, it appears Saginaw Township Community Schools is keeping me busy tonight.
Two readers raised an interesting question on my earlier post about the district's facility needs.
Has the district actually pursued grant funding instead of relying on another bond?
As it turns out, I have a receipt for that.
I have a copy of Saginaw Township Community Schools' 2025–2026 Section 12e School Infrastructure Grant application submitted to the State of Michigan.
And I found the district's own explanation particularly interesting.
The application states:
"Our community has demanded our school district's leadership to explore all other funding sources and that is exactly what we intend to do."
It continues:
"Our community has made it clear to us that they are not able/willing to pass a bond ask for all the needs our district requires."
And elsewhere in that same explanation:
"We had to remove critical needs but we hope to address these needs through funding such as 12e."
Now, dearest reader, those are not my words.
Those are the district's words, submitted to the state.
So what did the district request?
Approximately $27.43 million for roofing projects at six schools.
Arrowwood Elementary: $4,525,475
Hemmeter Elementary: $1,531,167
Heritage High School: $13,295,792
Mackinaw High School: $1,682,776
Sherwood Elementary: $4,759,392
Weiss Elementary: $1,634,657
And that's where I have questions.
The statewide facilities assessment identified approximately $68.07 million in repair needs, including $16.82 million classified as critical.
Those needs extended beyond roofing.
The district itself acknowledged removing critical needs from its reduced bond proposal.
Yet the Section 12e application I obtained requested funding for roofing alone.
Now, the grant program had specific eligibility and funding priorities, so I am not suggesting every identified repair would necessarily have qualified.
But I am curious.
Was this application part of a broader strategy to pursue alternative funding?
What other grant opportunities has the district pursued to address its documented critical needs?
And when the district told the state that its community had demanded alternative funding sources, how did that influence the decisions reflected in this application?
I don't know what motivated the district to submit it.
But I do know what the district wrote.
And sometimes the most interesting breadcrumbs are the ones found in the district's own paperwork.
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown
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