I will soon be introducing legislation that will amend Act 34 of 1973 to give schools flexibility to include much-needed administrative space, including offices for key school staff, support personnel, guidance counselors, when calculating school construction costs.
 
Act 34 was originally established to prevent school districts from overspending on school construction and expansion. However, the omission of the cost of administrative space in the determination of the threshold for projects that require voter approval is not appropriate.
 
This legislation adds administrative space to the “aggregate building expenditure standard” while maintaining all the other cost-control protections currently in place to protect taxpayers. This is a simple recognition that administrative space is an essential part of running a modern school. Please join me in supporting this legislation and supporting our schools.