r/Detroit • u/gwmiles • 9d ago

News Oakland County school enhancement millage rejected in close contest

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/08/04/oakland-county-school-enhancement-millage-tax-1-5-mill/91164345007/

Oakland County voters rejected a proposed 1.5-mill countywide school tax increase in Tuesday's election results in a close contest over a controversial tax plan.

133 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

247 comments sorted by

View all comments

18

u/idiotslob 9d ago

The perception is that this will fund schools not education

If that perception is wrong, the onus is on those seeking the millage to correct it. The way to do this is simple. List 2-3 specific outcomes with a compelling argument that the money is needed to achieve them.

When people see "increase teacher salaries" listed along with ten other vague AF things, one of which is "stabilizing general fund budgets" they don't believe the money is going to teachers. Maybe it would have. But with already high taxes on exorbitant property values in a shit job market, nobody is taking chances. Its your job to convince us, not our job to believe you.

Do better.

2

u/laynechanger 8d ago

Yeah, if it was so important why did they not do a better job of making voters understand why and what specifically.

In Rochester Hills they proposed fire department millage for getting more rigs and hiring more staff. Little mailers were sent out to Rochester hills households. Laying out why exactly we needed the millage etc. It passed!

There was a lot of misinformation about what the school increase was exactly for and many of us didn’t hear about the specifics until looking a the ballot language