Dear Friends,

The County has finished posting their unofficial election results, and WE DID IT! Not only did both AAPS millage proposals win handily, they won in just about every precinct. (Preliminary results below.)

Perhaps even more important, we broke out of the relatively low turnout for school elections and came very close to getting 10,000 votes cast on each of the proposals.

Here are answers to some questions we've been hearing, in no particular order.

The questions: Will my taxes go up? Why does the wording on the ballot say "increase"? What's this about 12 mills on homestead property when you say it's now 4.7 mills? How do these things show up on my tax bill? If I'm not happy about some past city millages, why should I vote for these? Is this another bond?

Read more for the answers!

Some voting precincts get consolidated for the May school elections, and sometimes that means you vote in a different place.

Some voters, especially in townships outside the city of Ann Arbor, may need to vote at a polling place that's different from where they will vote in November. Also, some townships have changed precinct boundaries.

Please check where you vote by visiting WashtenawVotes.org, a service provided by Washtenaw County to help people find their correct voting places.

You can also use a link on that page to check if you are registered to vote, and if they have your correct address recorded.

Please help us get out the vote!

In their editorial appearing in today's paper (Sunday, 27 April), the Ann Arbor News came out strongly in favor of the two school millage proposals on the May 6 ballot. If you did not see the print version, please take a look at it here. In endorsing the proposals, the paper not only asked citizens to vote yes, they make many of the same arguments in support of the millage that the CMC has been making since the start....
[Click below to read more....]

The Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce officially came out in support of the two school millage proposals Friday. The district leadership, including Supt. Todd Roberts, and members of the CMC met with the Chamber's public policy committee in the past weeks to present our case for the millages and to ask for their support. In their statements, the Chamber acknowledged the importance of quality schools to the prosperity of our community and praised the AAPS leadership for prudent planning and their continuing efforts to be a good steward of public funds.

Ballot proposals always seem to be written so that only a lawyer could understand them. Anyway, who has time to read them while people tap their feet waiting for your voting booth? Fear not, dear reader - we're here to help.

Here is a quick fact sheet on the sinking fund millage proposal, assembled by the Ann Arbor Public Schools; it's a nice one-page summary of what this ballot proposal is all about. A printable version is attached below.

Courtesy Ann Arbor Parents for Schools, who have endorsed the millage proposals:

Ballot proposals always seem to be written so that only a lawyer could understand them. Anyway, who has time to read them while people tap their feet waiting for your voting booth? Fear not, dear reader - we're here to help.

We are in challenging economic times, especially in the State of Michigan. Attached is a report from the University of Michigan about the economic trends and projections for the next two years. While Washtenaw County has enjoyed an economy more heavily dependent on an academic center and its corresponding businesses, other counties throughout our state have not had that luxury.

Since our public schools are just that: public; the state of our economy plays a key role in the context of the security of the future of our schools.