Kalamazoo, MI: Property tax renewal on ballot in May to pay for special ed costs
- Apr 24
- 2 min read
Kalamazoo County voters will decide whether to continue special education funding for local school districts at the upcoming May 5 election.
The Kalamazoo Regional Education Service Agency is asking voters to renew a special education millage to fund special education programs in Kalamazoo County school districts. The millage was first passed in 2015 and renewed in 2021.
If passed, KRESA would levy 1.5 mills, generating $16.8 million over six years. The millage rate equates to a $1.50 tax on each $1,000 of a property’s taxable valuation.
In other words, a resident with a $200,000 home (with a $100,000 taxable value) would continue paying $150 each year toward the millage.
The millage is a continuation of the 1.5 mill tax rate voters approved in 2021. Since 2021, the tax rate has fallen to 1.4862 mills because of Headlee rollbacks. Headlee rollbacks reduce millage rates if the value of property increases faster than inflation.
The proposal will be on the ballot for all voters who live within any of those nine school districts.
The millage would cover 100% of school districts’ federally mandated special education services. That equates to $492 a student, said KRESA Superintendent Dedrick Martin.
Without the millage, school districts would have to use general fund dollars to cover special education costs.
“In most situations, that cost will come at the expense of other non-special education programs,” Martin said.
Examples include cutting athletics and arts programs or laying off staff members to free up funding, Martin said.
If the millage isn’t passed, districts would “lose hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars overnight,” Martin said.
Further needs were identified at Our Lady’s Meadow National School Durrow, where two new ASD units have been approved but a third is still required, and at Mountrath Boys National School, which he said is in urgent need of an extension to provide appropriate facilities such as ASD classrooms and sensory rooms.
Deputy Stanley also criticised the lack of published data on waiting lists for special education places, arguing that greater transparency would help identify gaps in provision and inform future planning.
In addition, he called for further engagement with Special Needs Assistants, noting that while the Government has acknowledged shortcomings in its definition of the role, more work is needed to ensure SNAs are fully supported and recognised within the education system.
The developments highlight both progress and ongoing challenges in delivering special education services in Laois, with growing demand placing increasing pressure on schools to provide both the staffing and facilities required.
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