Millage Vote Could Mean More School Trips to DIA

Oakland County residents on Tuesday  that is reported to cost residents $15 a year on a house worth $150,000. In return for this investment, the  for residents and free field trips for students.

assistant superintendent Robert Martin said that although it is too early to tell if parents should start pre-emptively packing lunches for a field trip to see the DIA, that the passage of the millage is doubtless a benefit for public education.

"The DIA has always been wonderful with field trips for students. This is early, but I'm going to do everything I can on my part to increase that," Martin said. "What I'm hoping will happen is that now there are better options to allocate resources, that the DIA will expand its partnership programs with schools."

Over 1,500 students, teachers, and chaperones from four different buildings in the district including Ealy Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Sheiko Elementary, and Orchard Lake Middle School visited the DIA in the 2010-11 school year, according to DIA spokesperson Pamela Marcil.

Only 46 people including students, teachers, and chaperones from the district visited in the 11-12 school year, all from Roosevelt, Marcil added. Martin said that those students had taken advantage of a grant through the Target corporation to provide financial assistance covering admission and transportation.

Marcil also said that it was too early to tell if requests for field trips would increase, but noted several special exhibitions that should attract residents and students from the tri-county area for free. The millage barely passed in Macomb County, but was widely supported by more than 60 percent of voters in both Oakland and Wayne counties, unofficial results show.

Roughly 71 percent of voters in  supported the measure Tuesday.

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