Will this improve our local schools?

Will Schools get more Money to Operate? Regarding the implication that any generated taxes will improve operation of local schools, this is not true.   This is because first, the turbines are counted as nonhomestead tax that school districts use to help pay for part of their $8,700 per-student foundation allowance guaranteed by Lansing .  The foundation allowance is the primary source of revenue in Michigan used by local schools for teacher salaries, textbooks and resource materials, and other basic operational expenses.  

However, any extra funds provided by taxing wind turbines would just offset (rather than supplement) state revenues.  Thus, if a turbine tax say covered $500 of that $8,700 per student allowance that the State provides, local schools would just receive $500 less per student from Lansing.  So the total funding per student stays the same, with or without wind turbines.   Therefore, this project WILL NOT increase in the amount of the foundational allowance or money spent per student by the Adams Township School District that supports teacher salaries, textbooks and resource materials, and other basic operational expenses.  

Will Wind Turbines Improve Student Learning and Success? A March 2021 report (69 pages) out of the pro-wind Department of Energy supported Berkeley National Laboratory states very clearly that tax revenues from wind turbines do not result in higher teacher salaries and reduced class size. Importantly, that study clearly concluded any promised local tax revenue has had zero influence on student rates of completion or success on standard exams.

 “We examine the impact of wind energy installation on school district finances and student achievement using data on the timing, location, and capacity of the universe of U.S. installations from 1995 through 2017. Wind energy installation substantially increased district revenues, causing large increases in capital outlays, but only modest increases in current spending, and little to no change in class sizes or teacher salaries. We find zero impact on student test scores. Using administrative data from Texas, the country’s top wind energy producer, we find zero impact of wind energy installation on high school completion and other longer-run student outcomes.”  https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/school-district-revenue-shocks

Regarding school taxes, any revenue generated locally for schools is applied to debt incurred for capital outlays (new buildings). This is because wind turbines don't pay any school operating millage. They would thus only pay for debt retirement or a sinking fund obligation.

In “Michigan, prior to 2008, wind turbines were taxed as real property. Starting in 2008, wind turbines were taxed as industrial personal property with the assessed value of the turbines determined by their megawatts. Local school districts receive wind project tax revenue for debt millage. Only debt millage goes directly to local districts. If a district has no debt, it gets no direct tax revenue. https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/school-district-revenue-shocks

Local Schools can be Forced to Pay Back Money. Local school districts have also been forced to pay back already collected taxes because of decisions made by the State Tax Commission. We observed in our issue page on “false tax revenue promises” that wind developers consistently go to the State Tax Commission to have their assessments reduced (and they win). For example, in the recent downstate decision from June we covered on that issue page, Gratiot County is now on the hook to repay more than $3 million in overcharged taxes and reduce future expected revenue, including a reduction in five countywide millages (Morning Sun, June, 2021).

Local school districts have also had to repay these corporations back already spent taxes. For example, the L’Anse Warden power plant has been to the State Tax Commission many times, requesting a lowered assessment. Warden tried and lost, tried again and lost, then tried and won two times. Read these two Mining Gazette articles. In the first, Baraga County had to first refund Warden $344,418 in overpaid taxes (and interest). From this first ruling the L’Anse School District lost $35,000 dollars they had already collected (August 27, 2014, https://www.mininggazette.com/news/local-news/2015/05/l-anse-warden-tax-dispute-settled/).

Then in a second ruling, Baraga County had to pay back an additional $520,000 to Warden! Of this, the L’Anse Area Schools had to pay back approximately $183,000; the Copper Country Intermediate School District about $21,000; and a state education fund approximately $48,000 (May 14, 2015 https://www.mininggazette.com/news/local-news/2015/05/l-anse-warden-tax-dispute-settled/ ).