Note: 10/22/25 This article was updated with comments from CART organizer Kathy Griswold and WISD spokesperson Ashley Kryscynski.
Citizens Against Regressive Taxes (CART) is a grassroots coalition of Washtenaw County residents dedicated to promoting educational excellence, fiscal responsibility, and a fair tax burden for all. This coalition of concerned Washtenaw County taxpayers, homeowners, and business owners has announced its strong opposition to the proposed 1-mil property tax increase set forth by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) to provide for Career and Technical Education (CTE).
CART is urging all voters to vote no on November 4, citing significant concerns regarding the timing of the vote and the millage’s impact on the community. Among the several reasons for CART’s opposition to the WISD’s proposed county-wide 1-mill tax increase is that the proposed millage is a regressive and unnecessary property tax.
CART’s spokesperson is former AAPS Board member and former City Council member Kathy Griswold. Griswold said the coalition supports the goal of providing strong educational opportunities for local students, but they believe that the proposed millage is not the right approach.
“We advocate for fiscal responsibility and enhanced collaboration among educational providers to find more efficient and equitable methods for delivering CTE in local schools,” said Griswold.
CART members believe that the proposed 1-mil tax represents an undue burden for Washtenaw County residents, particularly those on fixed incomes and middle-class families. Kathy Griswold pointed out that Washtenaw County already bears one of the highest tax burdens in Michigan, and that increasing property taxes during a period of economic uncertainty would negatively affect hardworking families and seniors.
Griswold and CART members also oppose the WISD millage because they believe the WISD will simply duplicate services that are already being provided in Washtenaw County by Washtenaw Community College. WCC offers a wide range of career and technical education programs, including in local high schools.
Griswold said, “Washtenaw Community College (WCC) is already the leader in Career and Technical Education in the region. WCC’s agility and expertise make it the most suitable institution to provide CTE, especially in a rapidly changing technological environment.”
Griswold added: “WISD’s request for new millage funding is an example of ‘mission creep” and would lead to a wasteful duplication of services that are currently being funded.”
Recent financial challenges in local education, including a $25 million shortfall at Ann Arbor Public Schools and controversies surrounding a $1 billion bond, have heightened CART’s call for fiscal accountability. Griswold says the group also believes decisions over new school designs and lawsuits related to the Thurston Nature Center are evidence of poor fiscal management, and emphasize the need for more responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds by institutions of K-12 education.
“The WISD took $1 million in grant money to fund this millage drive,” said Griswold.
WISD spokesperson Ashley Kryscynski was contacted by phone about the District’s millage funding and asked how much, to date, the WISD has spent on its millage drive. Kryscynski said in an email, “that millage-related spending is coming from the WISD’s general fund.” Kryscynski was asked twice by email how much the WISD has spent to date on the millage drive and twice failed to reply.
CART’s campaign committee form filed when the group was formed indicates that CART expects to spend more than $1,000 opposing the WISD millage. Spokesperson Kathy Griswold said her group has spent around $3,000, and that she was urged to organize opposition to the WISD millage ask by Washtenaw County Democrats and Republicans.
“County Democrats are oppose this millage but are afraid to do so publicly. In private I’ve been told local Democrats are concerned about the impact the millage will have on the County’s seniors and others who live on fixed incomes,” said Griswold. WISD’s proposed millage is cumulative, and would be imposed over the next ten years.
Campaign finance disclosures are due on Friday Oct. 25. Those disclosures will show exactly how much money from its General Fund the WISD has spent.
The language of the ballot question appears below:
WASHTENAW INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT AREA CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROPOSAL
Shall Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Michigan, come under sections 681 to 690 of the
Revised School Code, as amended, and establish an area career and technical education program,
which is designed to encourage the operation of area career and technical education programs, if
the annual property tax levied for this purpose is limited to 1 mill ($1.00 on each $1,000 of taxable
valuation) for a period of 10 years, 2026 to 2035, inclusive; the estimate of the revenue the
intermediate school district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2026 is
approximately $25,020,000 from local property taxes authorized herein?
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.