DEARBORN — Two separate races for four seats on the Dearborn Board of Education will be held in the November 3 election, alongside a vote on a $1.51 billion bond proposal to rebuild or modernize every school facility in the Dearborn Public Schools District.

Voting in the school board races and bond election will be limited to residents of the Dearborn Public Schools District, which covers the entire city of Dearborn and northeastern neighborhoods in neighboring Dearborn Heights.

This year’s school board election carries particular importance because voters will choose more than half of the seven-member board. The contests include incumbent trustees seeking to retain their seats and challengers hoping to join the board for the first time.

Two separate races

Five candidates are competing for three seats carrying full six-year terms that will expire at the end of 2032.

The candidates are incumbent trustees Adel Mozip, Mary Petlichkoff and Nasri Sobh, along with challengers Mallak Anani and Mohamed Ali Hammoud.

Each voter may select up to three candidates in that race.

In the second contest, voters may select one candidate to fill a fourth seat with a partial term extending through the end of 2028.

Trustee Ali K. Bazzi is being challenged by Nofila Haidar, who previously sought a seat on the Dearborn Board of Education in 2014 and 2020 but didn’t win.

Bazzi joined the board last fall after trustees appointed him to complete the term of former Trustee Hussein Berry, who resigned to run unsuccessfully for the State House of Representatives in August. Berry’s school board term was scheduled to continue through December 31, 2028.

Haidar is Berry’s wife.

The board also appointed Sobh last fall to fill the seat previously held by Irene Watts, who moved outside the Dearborn Public Schools District and consequently became ineligible to retain her position. Watts’ term was scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

The Dearborn Board of Education oversees Dearborn Public Schools, Michigan’s third-largest public school district, as well as Henry Ford College.

In addition to Mozip, Petlichkoff, Sobh and Bazzi, the seven-member board also includes Jamal Aljahmi, Amer Zahr and Patrick D’Ambrosio.

$1.51 billion bond proposal is on the ballot

Alongside the school board elections, voters in the Dearborn Public Schools district will decide whether to authorize the issuance of $1.51 billion in bonds to finance a sweeping facilities plan.

The district plans to complete the proposed construction and renovation work in four phases over approximately 20 years. The bonds would be repaid over about 30 years, according to the district’s official bond information.

The plan calls for the construction of six new buildings serving students from preschool through eighth grade, along with major renovations at the district’s remaining schools and facilities.

Proposed improvements include heating, cooling and ventilation systems; roofs; secure entrances; technology; athletic facilities; expanded career and technical education spaces; and new school buses.

The district’s three traditional high schools — Fordson, Dearborn and Edsel Ford — would retain their existing buildings while undergoing extensive renovations.

The first phase would include secure vestibules at 24 schools, restroom improvements, roof and boiler repairs, technology upgrades, athletic facility renovations, expanded career and technical education spaces and the replacement of school buses.

The proposal would authorize a 3.14-mill property tax increase, meaning $3.14 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.

District officials say Dearborn homeowners would see no increase in their combined city and school property tax rate because the new millage would be offset by reductions in other taxes collected by the city and school district.

If the proposal passes, the combined city and school tax rate for Dearborn homeowners would remain at 26.30 mills.

Homeowners in the Dearborn Heights portion of the district would see their school property tax rate increase by 0.96 mill. However, district officials say their total school millage would remain below what they paid in 2024 and less than half the rate collected in 2021.

The tax impact would differ for businesses, rental properties, second homes and other non-homestead properties. Those properties in Dearborn would experience a net increase of 2.18 mills, while non-homestead properties in Dearborn Heights would face the full 3.14-mill increase.

Voters in the district rejected the last school bond proposal in 2019 by only 242 votes.

Two additional millage proposals

Voters residing within the Dearborn Public Schools district will also decide two other property tax proposals in the November election.

Wayne County voters will consider renewing the 0.1-mill property tax supporting the Detroit Zoo for another 10 years.

Voters in Wayne and Oakland Counties will also consider a new 0.2-mill property tax lasting 10 years to fund public historical institutions, including the Detroit Historical Museum and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

The museum proposal is expected to generate approximately $28.6 million during its first year. For a home with a market value of $300,000 and a taxable value of about $150,000, the proposed tax would cost approximately $30 annually.

Together, the school board contests and three tax proposals will give voters in Dearborn and the affected section of Dearborn Heights several consequential education and cultural funding decisions on November 3.