MONTAGUE — The Montague school board did not share any indication that continuing budget uncertainty at the federal and state levels would affect daily operations of the 2025-26 school year during its Monday meeting.
The state has yet to approve a budget for 2025-26, as the state house and state senate have been unable to come to an agreement on education funding. Both Whitehall and Montague's school boards passed budgets last month without knowing precisely how much state funding they would be receiving.
On top of that, federal funding that's been frozen includes, according to several reports, well over $150 million that was earmarked for Michigan.
However, superintendent Jeffrey Johnson said those latter funds should not have a major impact on Montague's day-to-day operations, saying the most likely change if the funds are not released would be a loss of professional development opportunities for school staff.
The Montague district posted on Facebook Tuesday that there is now a board vacancy. Trustee Scott Beishuizen told the Mirror the vacancy is his due to him moving out of the school district; his term lasted through 2026. Interested applicants may send a letter to the district office by July 30, and the board will appoint a new trustee at its Aug. 11 meeting.
The board unanimously, apart from absent treasurer Amanda Dahl, made several approvals at the meeting, including a $35,622 expenditure to recarpet several classrooms at the NBC Middle School. Johnson shared that another prior carpeting project at the school made clear that other rooms there needed new carpeting - "they were in bad shape" - and that resulted in the move.
Another approval was to borrow just shy of $50,000 from the school's bond fund. Johnson reported that the board has to pass a resolution each year determining whether they will borrow or contribute to the bond fund in order to meet its debt service obligations. The loan from the bond fund is expected to be paid back by 2037.
The board approved a resolution to surrender $685 of Title III federal funds earmarked for support of immigrant students. Because the district is not anticipating any immigrant students this year apart from foreign exchange students and Title III funds must be spent in very specific ways, the district determined they weren't necessary.
The district's hire of new third-grade teacher Brooke LeRoux was formalized at the meeting as well. LeRoux, Johnson said, impressed the hiring committee. A Mona Shores grad and former three-sport player and two-time captain at Alma College, LeRoux has already been involved with the girls basketball program during some of its summer events.
Two district teachers, Alexia Francis and Michelle Bunton, have achieved tenure, Johnson said. In Michigan, teachers can gain tenure if employed at the same district for five consecutive years. Teachers with tenure have enhanced job security as they typically cannot be terminated without cause.
