# Stae land being sold in se MI!!



## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

State land being sold in se MI!!! 

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Hey everyone-look at this one VERY CLOSELY...I think this might be Waterloo??

Let Jennifer do this, and the rest of the state is being lined up as we speak!!

Funds from land sale could bail out schools 

$9 million from Toyota may offset $6.6 million in cuts 
September 8, 2004


BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF



Twenty-two of Michigan's highest-spending school districts may avoid the $6.6-million cut in state aid announced last week as part of a deal on the state budget, lawmakers and a spokesman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration said Tuesday.


Renewed talks were prompted Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema urged Granholm to use money from an anticipated sale of state land to Toyota to make up the lost funds.


Granholm balked at that proposal, but talks continued Tuesday to find other ways to avoid cutting $74 per pupil in the districts that spend more than $9,000 per pupil.


Greg Bird, spokesman for the state Department of Management and Budget, said: "We realize this is a very important issue to a number of people. We'll sit down with the legislative leadership. We are committed to finding a solution on this."


The school districts complained that the cuts unfairly would force them to cut programs after they have established their budgets and begun the school year.


First proposed by Granholm last March, the plan was to freeze state aid to the affected districts at this year's level. Of the affected school districts, six are in Oakland County -- Birmingham, Lamphere in Madison Heights, Southfield, Bloomfield Hills, Troy and Farmington. The other three districts in the metro area affected are Grosse Pointe, Warren Consolidated and Center Line.


Toyota offered $9 million for 690 acres near Ann Arbor. Granholm last week called for the Legislature to sell the land to Toyota, after a state panel rejected competitive bids from Toyota and an Oakland County developer that offered $25 million.


Granholm and lawmakers agreed that having Toyota build a new technical center on the site would create more jobs and serve the state's economy better in the long run.


Tuesday, the developer sued the state, claiming it was wrongly denied the property. Sikkema, R-Wyoming, urged Granholm to spend money from the Toyota land sale on the school districts facing a cut in state aid.


"This is new, one-time money in the budget and we can use it to offset these cuts," Sikkema said in a prepared statement. "Unlike some alternative proposals that would have cut funding to every student in Michigan, my proposal does not help one district at the expense of another."


House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy, said he agreed with Sikkema.


But Granholm instead wants to use the land sale money to replenish $8 million the state spent to prepare the same 690 acres for development, said Sikkema's spokesman, Bill Nowling. Sikkema talked Tuesday to Granholm's chief of staff Rick Weiner about options to make up the money.


Lawmakers returned to Lansing this week from a weekend break to put the final stamp on a 2004-05 budget. The $6.6-million cut to schools was among the last pieces.


A group of parents from the Southfield area had planned to trek to Lansing to protest the school cuts, but reconsidered after news surfaced of a proposal to avoid the reductions.


"We are told they have found another solution. That's good and we hope they are true to their word," said parent Betty Robinson, who is the secretary for the Southfield Area Council PTA.


But other parents, like Mari Barnett of Bloomfield Hills, president of the Bloomfield Hills PTO Council, planned to make the trip.


"We want them to understand there are some real vocal people out here who will speak up when it comes to protecting children and education," she said. "We were kind of floored by it all. And we want them to know we'll be back again if we have to. We feel there are probably other creative ways to look at cutting the budget."


But lawmakers oppose one possible solution endorsed by school superintendents around the state: an across-the-board, $3.50-per-pupil cut to schools.


State lawmakers from Oakland County said the controversy highlights the need for the state to revamp the school finance system, which was redrawn in 1994 by Proposal A, a ballot issue voters passed to cut school property taxes and increase the sales tax for school funding.


"This plugs the hole for now," said state Sen. Gilda Jacobs, a Huntington Woods Democrat whose district includes the Southfield and Farmington Hills school districts. "But it doesn't deal with the problem in the long term. We've got to fix Proposal A."


Jacobs called superintendents in the two districts Tuesday morning to give them the good news, and said, "they were thrilled."


Contact CHRIS CHRISTOFF at 517-372-8660. Staff writers Theresa Mask and Kathleen Gray contributed to this report.
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## shametamer (Jul 22, 2001)

Thanks for the info, Linda! Stay vigilant. These unsure economic times may indeed lead the politicos to 'deal from the bottom of the deck'!


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

I understand that this property is actually the former site of the old Ypsilanti state psychiatric hospital...



I have calls into the state's Office of Management and Budget now to clarify that, and to find out whether any of that property is currently open to public recreation of any kind.

So I think we're ok on this one, but this is something we need to watch very closely...there is currently a bill in the Michigan Senate to once again allow our school systems to sell their school forest lands, btw.


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## Buddy Lee (Dec 17, 2003)

Linda G. said:


> I understand that this property is actually the former site of the old Ypsilanti state psychiatric hospital...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've been following this one pretty close, and I agree with you we need to stay vigilant. I don't know if the land that was sold in this case was open to any public recreation, I think there was a fair amount of building on it already...

We will be fighting this battle in the VERY near future.


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## Bob S (Mar 8, 2000)

Three articles on this subject. These are from the Ann Arbor News.

Governor should accept Toyota's bid for York land

Both bids for land in York Twp. rejected

Push for Toyota irks builder


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## lawnguy (Dec 30, 2003)

By looking at the school districts in question... they most seem to be upper level income areas and I for one say let them use thier cash (pay to play, raise school taxes). Help the little guys in this situation. There are many many schoool districts in the greater detroit area that need much more aid. I am not saying give to detroit public as they are proven to be quite good at squandering cash but to the middle class districts that have cut music, art and other intermural sports.

Just my (hard earned) $.02


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