HOUGHTON – Residents of Houghton and Portage Township shared what they want – or don’t want – to see in the school district’s next bond proposal at a public hearing before Monday’s School Board meeting.

The Houghton-Portage Township School District’s $1.8 million proposal on the May ballot lost by seven votes. It included renovations of the physical education and athletic complex, energy-efficiency and other upgrades of the district buildings, security improvements, and an upgraded wireless network.

“The goal in this process is simply to get a sense of the community’s interest and what should be done in this bond proposal,” said board President Brad Baltensperger.

Brett Hamlin questioned spending for an athletic field that would only be used by male teams. He asked the board to look at natural materials rather than granularized rubber as a track surface, and to look at studies regarding injuries on artificial turf, which the district had planned for the field.

Some residents were put off by the size of the proposal. David Hall said the district should look at sharing fields with other districts, or possibly consolidating with other districts.

He also urged the district not to consider artificial turf and said the improvements would benefit a small number of students for the cost.

“I am somebody who has never in my life voted against a bond issue for a school, no matter where I lived, but this one really stuck out for me, because it’s such a small school district to be asking this much money from the residents,” he said.

Baltensperger said Houghton and Hancock had looked at combining districts back in the early 1990s. Houghton-Portage Township voters were opposed by a 3-to-1 margin, while Hancock voters were against it 4-to-1, he said.

The cost will be about $1.2 million to rebuild the existing field, regardless of the playing surface, Baltensperger said. Changing from grass to artificial turf would cost another $600,000 on top of that, he said.

Kristina Sundstrom made a range of suggestions, including separate bond proposals for the improvements to the physical education/athletic complex and for the other material.

Sundstrom also questioned the focus on athletic spending. While she knew a bond could not be used on instructional items, she said, she would like to see the district add more computer programming classes.

“You should already have those in place before asking for such lavish, noneducational upgrades,” she said.

The district added a range of computer classes to the curriculum at its meeting Monday, although High School Principal Patrick Aldrich said they are not on the course list for the coming year.

The board will have another public hearing on the bond proposal Sept. 19 from 5:30 to 6 p.m. at the high school library.