Boom And Bust

A new report by the Michigan Land Use Institute finds that school construction is hastening sprawl across much of Michigan. The problem is that development trends in Michigan’s suburbs, intensified by families seeking brand new schools, produce a boom-and-bust cycle in school enrollments. The cycle makes planning for future enrollment difficult for school boards and investing in new buildings very risky. Unlike past eras, when steadier school enrollments guaranteed that school buildings were longstanding centers of community life, school enrollments in Okemos and other Michigan communities crest and then decline in less than a generation.