Update, Jan. 16, 4:35 p.m.: This article has been updated with information that more accurately reflects Mercy Health’s future plans for the Hackley campus.
MUSKEGON, MI – A proposal to restructure Muskegon Public Schools facilities will be decided by voters in May.
A two-part, $89 million bond proposal to reorganize Muskegon schools, which would include repairs, improvements, and the closure of several schools, will appear on the May 5 ballot following a vote by the Muskegon Board of Education Monday, Jan. 13.
The proposal is divided into two parts: Proposal 1 for academic and building improvements that would maintain an existing 7.36-mill property tax, and Proposal 2 focused on extracurricular and sports facilities, which would result in a tax increase of 1-mill.
The proposals must be approved in separate votes, and the second proposal can only pass if the first proposal passes.
The Hackley Administration Building will also be vacated, and eventually sold, regardless of the measure’s passage.
Before the election, Superintendent Matthew Cortez, who was hired in July, will present the proposal before neighborhood associations and hold town halls, according to a press release issued by the district.
For 82 percent of local residents, the 1-mill tax increase would amount to an annual property tax increase of $20 to $68.50, according to Cortez. One mill of tax equals $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value. A home with a market value of $100,000 and taxable value of $50,000 would be assessed $50 per year.
The second proposal, with the 1-mill increase, would support upgrades to athletic facilities and security systems. These include constructing a new gymnasium at the high school, replacing the one that would be lost after Nelson Elementary’s closure, perimeter fencing at the middle and high schools, and updates to the high school’s football field and swimming pool.
MLive previously outlined the proposed changes after the school board voted unanimously on Nov. 19 to move forward with them. The changes under Proposal 1 include tearing down and relocating the middle school, shutting down the high school’s power plant, demolishing the high school’s J Building and closing Nelson Elementary and, in 2024, Moon Elementary.
Since that initial reporting, one key aspect of the plan has been finalized: the future of Muskegon Middle School.
Under the Proposal 1 plan presented in November, two sites were being considered for a new middle school: the grounds of Nelson Elementary School, 550 Grand Ave., or the Mercy Health Partners Hackley Campus site, 1700 Clinton St. The plan calls for Nelson to be closed and torn down.
The district has since settled on the latter option. Muskegon Middle School, 1150 Amity Ave., would be torn down, and a new school would be built at the hospital site and be renamed the Charles Hackley Middle School.
Mercy Health, which is finalizing construction of a new hospital tower at the Mercy Campus, would donate the land to the school district, but that donation is contingent on the passage of the bond, Cortez told MLive. The hospital plans to continue operating the Hackley Professional Center, 1675 Leahy St, and behavioral health and emergency services, 1700 Clinton St, a spokesperson told MLive.
The future of the Nelson elementary school campus remains up in the air. Cortez floated private development and a return to a natural watershed as two possible uses for some or all of the land, but said it is too early to make decisions on that front.
“It’s all visionary,” he said of those possibilities.
The plan is an attempt to decrease the district’s operating costs in response to the fact that enrollment is roughly one-third of that which the district’s infrastructure was built to hold.
The school system was originally built to serve 9,000 students. Enrollment in recent years has stabilized at around 3,600, according to Cortez.
Planning for a district-wide reorganization has been ongoing since November 2018, first under the direction of former superintendent Justin Jennings. Jennings’ plan involved a number of school closures, which earned significant community pushback, and he cited these disputes over the bond as one factor for his resignation in May 2019.
Cortez will embark on an “informational process” with neighborhood associations between now and the time of the vote, to “help the public to understand that this isn’t what MPS wants, this is what our community needs,” he said.
If it doesn’t pass, Cortez added, the district will return to residents to find out what aspects they didn’t support, in order to try again.
