Okemos board authorizes superintendent to rescind conditional acceptance of Section 31 AA funds amid attorney‑client privilege concerns

The Okemos Public Schools Board of Education voted to adopt a resolution directing the superintendent to rescind the district’s conditional opt‑in to Section 31 AA funds unless the legislature or the courts change the law so that accepting the funds would no longer require waiver of attorney‑client privilege.

Board members debated the tradeoff between the potential revenue and legal risks before the vote. Trustees raised concerns that the language around the waiver could be open‑ended — applying for years or applying to routine incidents such as bus accidents — and said the uncertainty about how attorney‑client privilege would be affected for staff, the superintendent and the board made the risk unacceptable.

A trustee who moved the measure told colleagues there was “no clarity on attorney‑client privilege as it relates to how that affects our staff, specifically, how it affects the superintendent, how it affects the board,” and said that lack of clarity was “really troubling to me.” That trustee formally moved to waive the reading and adopt the resolution; the motion was seconded by Trustee Cavanaugh.

The roll call produced five yes votes, one no and one abstention. Trustee Burns voted no; Trustee Doxey abstained. The chair announced the resolution passed.

Trustees discussed the financial stakes in the conversation: one trustee said the district’s guaranteed minimum under the program would be about $600,000, and other comments in the record referenced per‑student calculations (participants in the meeting cited $130–$140 per student in earlier memory). Board members said those figures factored into the decision but did not outweigh the legal and confidentiality concerns.

The resolution specifies a rescission deadline in its text; board members emphasized that the resolution would require action from the superintendent only if there was no material change to the statutory or judicial requirements. The board did not take further action on related policies at the meeting.

The board moved on to a work session after the vote.