Board reviews facilities work and lays out budget timeline; public hearing set for June

Dr. John Dean, a district administrator, told the board that Bid Pack 11 will bundle several facilities projects at Eastpointe High School and other sites, including boiler replacement, condensation-line work and duct repairs. Dean said bundling allows the district to obtain cost savings from one contractor handling multiple closely related tasks and that the projects are scheduled to be completed concurrently during the summer.

"They're all going to be done concurrently," Dean said. He added that older boilers are expensive to maintain because parts are harder to source and that the work will not fully solve every temperature inconsistency across rooms but will materially improve reliability.

Separately, the board reviewed the budget-development timeline for the 2026-27 fiscal year. Dr. Dean said staff will bring a budget amendment to the board in February to update the current-year numbers, meet with building principals in March to gather priorities, present budget assumptions and enrollment projections in April, monitor the state's May consensus revenue estimating conference, hold the required public hearing on June 8 and adopt the final budget at the June board meeting.

"By law, we have to have that budget in place by the end of June," Dean said, summarizing the statutory deadline and the district's internal steps to meet it. Administrators said they will present three funding scenarios tied to possible state foundation allowances produced by the House, Senate and governor so the board can see how different state outcomes would affect local planning.

Next steps: Administration will finalize procurement scopes for Bid Pack 11, coordinate contractor timelines for summer work and continue budget development through the spring with public hearings and final adoption in June.