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Monroe Memo

February 13, 2026

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The next few months will be great changes to our facilities as we continue to transform our facilities, thanks to district voters. After years of planning, we will open or begin major reconstruction projects and improvements to fields and facilities in every corner of our district. In addition, we are continuing to implement the critical safety aspects of this bond, including new doors and safety locks and replacing water fountains with filtered bottle filling stations. 

Our commitment to fiscal accountability is critical to the overall management of facility improvement projects. We continue to expand the impact of our building projects through initiatives maximizing the investment our taxpayers have made in schools.  

These strategies include:

  • Refinancing – Our Board of Education recently approved the refinancing of the debt authorized by the community to fund these projects. This will allow the district to save an estimated $1.3 million in interest over the life of the debt. We will be able to redirect these resources to expand the reach of our current building program.  
  • Reconstruction vs New Construction - Where possible, we are looking at reconstruction of facilities versus demolishing a building and starting new. The reconstruction creates what is essentially a new school using the original structural steel and outside brick and mortar. On a practical level, this provides more than $14 million in savings and allows the reconstruction to be completed in just over one year.  
  • Partnerships - We are currently working with the Macomb Intermediate School District to create space at Schwarzkoff Elementary for the Physically or Otherwise Health Impaired, referred to as the POHI program. This will give teachers space specifically designed to meet the unique needs of their students. We will continue this strategy as we look at potential projects that could leverage our partnerships with municipalities and their parks and recreation departments.  
  • UCS Bidding Process – For each project there is a comprehensive and thorough bidding process that contains building costs by awarding projects to the lowest qualified bid with vendors that can meet the high expectations of this Board of Education and community.  

I share this information at a time when facility needs of Michigan school districts are being highlighted through a recently released Michigan Statewide School Facilities Study Final Report. This study was funded by state lawmakers to determine the cost to bring all K-12 public school buildings in the State of Michigan to a common standard of health, safety and wellness. 

Across the state, the report identified a $22.8 billion dollar gap in funding. Our community has been generous in their support of facility improvements throughout our history, but we must realize the significant needs of facilities that are on average approximately 55 years of age. In Utica Community Schools – Michigan’s second largest school district that currently has 42 facilities – the identified gap is almost $3 billion dollars.  

It makes our focus to contain costs even more important. Beyond that, it shows that we still have work to do beyond this bond issue to realize our community vision for the learning environment we provide students and staff. We are already looking at how to work with our community to meet these future needs.  

Through effective management taxpayers' resources, we will continue to provide this community with a positive learning environment. An environment that gives our staff the tools and spaces they need to empower students, providing areas of learning that truly reflect the community’s pride in their schools.  

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