Arbit aims to repeal failed Educational Instruction Access Act, save historic school buildings from demolition, including 104 year-old Roosevelt Elementary in Keego Harbor
LANSING, Mich. — On Tuesday, February 27th, State Representative Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield) testified before the House Committee on Education in support of his bill to repeal the Educational Instruction Access Act (PA 98 of 2017), which has prohibited school districts and local governments from placing deed restrictions on properties they intend to sell.
Rep. Arbit introduced HB 5025 to aid constituents in the City of Keego Harbor fighting to save the historic, 104 year-old Roosevelt Elementary School from demolition, after the West Bloomfield School District cited the Educational Instruction Access Act as an impetus for its decision to demolish the building.
“Like many communities across Michigan, my constituents in Keego Harbor are facing the painful, unintended repercussions of the Educational Instruction Access Act,” said Rep. Arbit. “This failed law has done nothing to increase educational opportunities for students, but has instead incentivized school districts to spend taxpayer dollars demolishing dozens of historic school buildings – buildings, which could have been sold and redeveloped to meet urgent housing needs. It is time to remove this statutory straitjacket placed on school districts and local municipalities that has held our communities back from achieving their fullest potential.”
“I want us to ensure that no other community has to endure what my constituents in Keego Harbor have had to endure. It is a travesty in its pointlessness. It is gut-wrenching, and painful, and entirely preventable. Now is the time to get rid of this pointless, failed law. To support public schools, local control, fiscal responsibility, and address the housing crisis — it’s time to repeal this Act.”
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Contact: noaharbit@house.mi.gov • (517) 373-3816