School millage is not over

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck school officials aren’t taking “no” for an answer.
At last week’s Public School Board meeting, boardmembers vowed to ask voters a second time to renew a 10-year millage that brings in close to $2 million a year.
The plan is to put the millage proposal on the August Primary Election ballot.
Voters recently rejected the renewal following a last-minute distribution of an anonymous campaign flier that urged a no vote and saying that by doing so voters would save $500.
The flier upset school officials who said not only was the $500 claim false, it also violated state election law by not identifying who was behind it. Election law requires campaign literature to identify who produced it, which is usually a registered committee.
The state’s Attorney General’s Office has been asked to look into the matter.
Superintendent Tom Niczay said the millage has been in place for 20 years and is crucial to the district’s budget.
“If you want to have a viable school district, you have to fund it,” he said.
Each of the six board members said they supported the millage and will continue to campaign for it.
“It’s not the end of the world,” said Boardmember Mohammad Huda. “We can work together.”
Board President Maggie Srodek said that with the district about to emerge from a budget deficit, the defeat of the millage would set the district back.
“We worked hard on eliminating it,” she said in reference to the deficit. “It was done with tears and sweat. We can’t let that go to waste.”
Srodek also said that if there are any boardmembers who are secretly against the millage – which former Board President Titus Walters claims there is — they should resign from office.
Srodek said that the next time around, the district and its supporters will be more vocal about the millage.
“We will hit as strong as we can,” she said.