Dearborn voters to decide fate of $1.5B bond proposal Nov. 3

Dearborn voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve a $1.51 billion bond package that Dearborn Public Schools could use to replace or remodel every school in the district over the next 20 years.

The district Board of Education approved the ballot language on June 22, 2026, for the Nov. 3, 2026 election. The school district has just over 19,000 students and is the third-largest school district statewide. It maintains 37 buildings. While other districts have seen a drastic student population drop, Dearborn’s student population has stayed somewhat steady, hovering around 20,000 students since 2016-2017. 

The ballot language will ask for a 3.14 mill increase, but the new tax for the bond would be offset partly by a 0.96 mill reduction in the city of Dearborn’s debt millage for a combined sewer project. Dearborn school officials say they would stop collecting a 2.18 operating millage if the bond passes.

In 2019, voters rejected a $240 million bond proposal on a vote of 6,782 to 7,525.

In 2013, voters approved a $76 million bond on a vote of 12,024 to 5,621.

“We are calling this bond transformational because it will be. It will change how Dearborn Public Schools looks and how we serve students for generations to come,” Interim Superintendent Lamis Srour said in a news release.

Bond-funded work would be done in four waves over 20 years. Six new schools would be constructed, all of them neighborhood schools enrolling students in preschool through eighth grade. Every remaining school would eventually have major remodeling.

The buildings not slated for remodeling in the first waves of the bond work would still see significant improvements, such as new roofs, secured vestibules, upgraded restrooms, better traffic flow and improved athletic facilities.

Every school would see improvements in the first three years of the bond. And every school would be air conditioned once the bond work is completed. Elementary schools would have space for preschool classrooms as the state expands its no-fee preschool program. New career and technical education spaces and STEAM learning labs would also be included in the plans.

Residents can learn more about the proposal on the district’s 2026 bond website. An overview is also available in the June 2026, Facilities Master Planning report and on the district’s First Bell website.

Dearborn Public Schools Master Planning Board of Education Update Meeting 06-22-2026 by mcclallen

The district has the lowest tax rate in Wayne County for school debt.

“This bond will go far beyond basic repairs to our schools,” said incoming Superintendent Mike Esseily. “Voters have a chance to approve a measure that would fundamentally change our community, creating vibrant new or like-new learning spaces ready to help students thrive for generations to come.”