A recommendation has been put forth that if approved would see voters in Dexter Community Schools (DCS) answering yes or no to a $240 million bond question in the special election on May 6, 2025.

The DCS bond proposal emphasizes that there will not be an increase in the current millage rate for school bond projects and its approval would actually maintain the same rate that has been in place through the community for over 40 years.

The proposal states this represents a zero increase to the current bond millage rate of 8.5 mills.

The recommendation is now being considered by the DCS Board of Education.

On Nov. 4, the school district’s bond steering committee put forward the recommendation to the school board to place the proposal on the ballot. The Sun Times News followed up with DCS and superintendent Chris Timmis by email to learn more.

The committee’s recommendation is a comprehensive facility improvement bond proposal to go before DCS voters that maintained the current millage rate that has been in effect for nearly 40 years to fund a comprehensive maintenance and improvement plan for DCS facilities for students and the community.

To get to the recommendation, the bond steering committee (BCS) put in over 325 hours of time invested; had five Steering Committee Meetings; took tours of district facilities; reviewed program and facilities condition assessments, and developed and analyzed various concepts and estimates.

DCS said every 8-10 years, the school district conducts a comprehensive facility study that evaluates the current status of its facilities along with the usable life of facility elements such as HVAC, carpet, roofing, parking lots, etc.  In addition, they evaluate the current use and future use of facilities to better meet programmatic and community needs.

This process has resulted in bond proposals to the voters in 1987 (district wide improvements), 1993 (construction of Cornerstone and Mill Creek), 1998 (construction of Dexter High School), 2008 (district wide improvements), 2017 (district wide improvements and construction of Beacon Elementary).

DCS said that all of these proposals retained the existing millage rate at the time and this process has provided funding to maintain/improve DCS facilities at the same millage rate for over 40 years.

In the winter of 2024, Timmis said DCS began the next 10-year facility study by engaging community members, staff, and industry professionals to evaluate all DCS facilities and programming.

The bond steering committee was formed after district-wide communications asked for community volunteers. Timmis said nearly 50 community members volunteered to be members of the committee and all were invited to participate in a series of in-person meetings and building tours.

In total, the DCS owns and maintains nearly One million square feet of indoor space, 927,000 square feet of parking lots, 360 acres of land, nearly 100,000 square feet of windows, 640,000 square feet of roofing, 15,000 light fixtures, and over 2300 doors. Timmis said this comprehensive facility analysis process included inspections of over 1,400 rooms throughout the district along with every roof, parking lot, field, and square foot of each DCS building.

Again considering that there would be no increase to the existing millage rate and if approved by voters, the plan would be to take on the following major projects with the bond funding:

• Critical infrastructure improvements throughout the entire district in all district properties
• Significant security enhancements throughout the district
• Technology, Furniture, Musical Instruments, and Buses
• Renovations to every building in the district
• Creating a Young 5 – 6 campus on the east side of Baker Road and moving all 7-12 students west of Baker Road via:
  • Modern major additions/renovations to Wylie Elementary School (built in 1965)
  • Renovations to the Dexter Early Elementary Complex and Mill Creek with 5th and 6th grade moving to Mill Creek after completion of Creekside Renovations
  • Major renovations to Creekside (built in 1956) that maintains key components of the original building (i.e., gym, offices, front entrance, etc) while adding a two-story modern structure for 7th-8th graders including new music rooms and a 300+ attendee capacity theater
• Renovations and modernization to Dexter High School that include a new secure front entrance and separate entrance to the gym, additions of over 60,000 square feet of indoor athletic space, a larger weight/fitness room, renovation of all science classrooms, renovation of all other classrooms, and creation of new career technical education classrooms.
• Updates to all Theater, Arts, Music, and Athletic Spaces
• New playground structures for all preschool and elementary schools
• Allocation for long-term maintenance needs of the new Dexter Senior Center
• Updates/upgrades to Jenkins Early Childhood Learning Center including a new secure entrance and playground
• Site enhancement to address the series of separate parking lots, driveways, and roads at the Bates School entrance on Baker Road and the Dexter Senior Center and Wellness Center properties to create increased parking for afterschool events and safer traffic flow

The school board will vote on the recommendation at its Dec. 16 meeting. To learn more, go to the BSC’s presentation under the Nov. 4 meeting packet tab at https://www.dexterschools.org/district/board-of-education/meetings.

 

Photo: Pics of the Bond Steering Committee meetings. courtesy of DCS