Nearly a decade ago, a large group of citizens demanded to know how Wayland Union school district funds from the Gun Lake Casino were obtained and distributed. Monday night, only a dozen local people showed up to a workshop explaining casino funding and providing a chance for community input.
Wayland is one of a few public schools in Michigan blessed with funds from a compact in lieu of taxes. In the most prosperous years the schools have received more than $2 million, but in the post-Covid pandemic world its contributions have been only about $1.5 million.
All three Wayland Union School administrators, Supt. Dr. Christina Hinds, Assistant Supt. for Finances and Operations Patricia Velie and Assistant Supt. for Instruction Theresa Fulk were on hand to talk about what the compact does and doesn’t do.
Hinds said of the Gun Lake Tribe, operators of the Gun Lake Casino, “I want us (the schools) to strengthen our partnership and I want the community to have a say.”
She said the money is separated into three departments — 50 percent for public improvements, 25% for instructional support and 25% for community support. The actual amounts allocated are published on the school district’s web site.
Public improvements indeed deal with buildings and infrastucture. Hinds noted that one of the most visible successes in this category is that the Science & Innovation addition to the high school is nearing completion of bond payments.
The superintendent said the biggest public improvement project in the last year was $587,319 spent on the new artificial turf at the football stadium.
Perhaps the biggest challenge ahead is replacing the aging pool, which opened with the high school in 1974. She said it is not cost efficient to simply effect repairs, a new pool is needed.
Other infrastructure programs under consideration are soccer field turf and resurfacing and striping parking lots.
Some of the most important parts of the instructional support category include the program providing iPad computer tablets to students, the school nurse, elimination of pay to participate in extra curricular programs and having a public safety officer.
Kevin Hinds, husband of the superintendent, but now a resident of the district, insisted that hiring another public safety resource person may be necessary because the buildings in the district are spread out and Dorr is almost isolated.
“We’re now living in a day and age in which security is a top priority,” he insisted.
Community support includes broadband Internet, mentoring programs and community use of the pool, Fine Arts Center and Fitness Center.
Hinds said the key concepts in spending casino funds and continuing a positive relationship with the Gun Lake Tribe are “partnership, trust and transparency.”