Fallout from MAPS Bond Issue Failure

The Marquette Area Public Schools bond proposal failed with voters yesterday.

It was rejected by a 2–to–1 margin.

ABC 10 News Now senior reporter Mike Hoey examines where things will go from here.

The MAPS bond proposal would have resulted in the school district borrowing up to $29 million.

The superintendent says she’s disappointed at the rejection by voters.

Debbie Veiht says she was led to believe the outcome would be more in doubt — many people told her they thought the bond proposal had a 50/50 chance of passing.

The borrowed money would have paid for a wide range of facility and technology improvements.

The proposed closure and demolition of Bothwell Middle School was the most notable of those — its students would have been moved to a new middle school wing to be built at the high school.

The most notable of those would have been

Bond opponents say that, like supporters of the measure, they know MAPS has problems that must be addressed.

Besides a sense of relief at the outcome, Bob Wilson remembers thinking that the work to address those needs has only begun.

He says this is the time for the school board, teachers, parents and local businesspeople to get together and formulate a different plan to address the technology and facility issues.

The mention of businesspeople is a crucial point — Wilson says the business owners had a great deal to do with the outcome.

He says everyone in the local business community he spoke with about the bond proposal opposed it.

Veiht says it’s time to re–group.

She’d like the projects the bond would have paid for to be tackled one at a time.

However, MAPS doesn’t currently have the money to perform them.