A state lawmaker is proposing legislation to hold school districts accountable for their vacant buildings.
Rep.Tim Kelly wants to assure that taxpayer owned buildings are not demolished if there are offers on the table to purchase the unused facilities. His office is currently drafting legislation to make it unlawful to use public funds to raze a school building if a buyer with a reasonable ‘bona fide? offer is available for an educational use is offered.
Recently, such vacant school buildings and their use sparked the ire of Kelly prompting the need for changes in the law.
According to news sources, on Jan. 28, the Saginaw Board of Education voted 7-0 to dump an offer by charter school Francis Reh Academy to purchase the Phoenix Science & Technology Center for $3.25 million. The Saginaw School District had taken over ownership of buildings in the former Buena Vista School District after the state dissolved Buena Vista schools in 2013.
‘The Buena Vista School District was dissolved,? said Kelly. ‘As a condition of that, neighboring school districts including Bridgeport and Frankenmuth received some of the buildings. Saginaw (School District) ended up with the bulk of the buildings. The state provided funds to Saginaw School District for demolition, however they have an offer on the table to purchase the property and buildings. It’s a poor use of taxpayer funds to spend money.?
While on a much smaller scale, the Brandon School District has grappled with similar debate regarding an unused former education building.
The dust has long settled on the former home of the Sherman Lifelong Learning Center’the 50-year-old building was demolished in November 2013 at a cost to the district of $47,027. Today the 2.4 acre vacant Sherman Court parcel, at 330 Sherman Court in the village of Ortonville, is on the real estate market for $149,900. The building sat vacant for several years and after the Oakwood Elementary was built, both the alternative high school and district preschool classes were moved from the Sherman building to the former H.T. Burt Elementary. The district attempted to sell the Sherman building, but multiple deals fell through, some due to a lack of sewers in the village.
However, an offer in early 2013 to buy the property for $100,000 and use it for a proposed charter school was declined by the district.
Mary Wilcox, founding member of Better Choice Development, a non-profit board for organizing North Oakland Charter Academy in the Brandon Township area was leading the group to purchase the Sherman Lifelong Learning Center.
‘It’s done now,? said Wilcox, regarding the Sherman building. ‘The consensus was that the Sherman Lifelong Learning Center was dirty and unusable due to the asbestos’that’s just not true, we have confirmation from the inspector the district hired it (the Sherman building) was safe,? she said.
Brett Brumbaugh, of the Ohio-based Brumbaugh-Herrick, Inc. (BHI) an environmental, occupational health, and safety-consulting firm inspected the facility. In a March 2013 letter to Wilcox he wrote that if the building was not going to be demolished then all asbestos material can remain in-place indefinitely. The floor tile can be covered with carpet or left as-is. There are no regulations that mandate removal of the asbestos unless the building is being demolished.
‘We wanted to establish a charter school in that building and we were just turned down flat due to the competition,? added Wilcox.
Prior to the demolition in 2013, the district had asbestos abatement done to the building at a cost to taxpayers of $28,000. The 50-year-old building was demolished by R & R Earthmovers of Ortonville at a cost to the district of $47,027.
‘The taxpayers paid for those buildings and a better use of those facilities is and was available’in this case it’s a charter school,? added Kelly, in regard to the Sherman Building in the Brandon School District and the Phoenix Science & Technology Center in Buena Vista School District. ‘Unless the building is falling down’the taxpayers will get something out of the building by selling it. The school board’s decision is just short-sighted.?
Don Wortruba is the Executive Director of the Michigan Association of School Boards. He says the decision is best left up to the local school district officials rather than Lansing. ‘Selling a school building is a process,? said Wortruba. ‘The (school) board is given the authority, however, that sale should be discussed in public. Lansing should not be making the decision for school districts statewide. It’s really a local issue.?
Wortruba agrees it’s a business decision for the distinct.
‘We have had cases where school districts have sold to a charter school and it’s worked out just fine,? he added. ‘However, school boards have to take a look at the budget and if selling a building for $3 million means the district is going to lose $3 million in student funding within the next three years, ultimately it would just not make good fiscal sense.?
Kelly disagrees.
‘I get the self-preservation argument of the district’but it’s the wrong use of taxpayer dollars,? added Kelly. ‘I also understand that competition is tough’but put a better product out, maybe you won’t lose students to competition. It’s pretty simple if you build a better mouse trap they will buy it.?