I've Done This Before. Here's the Proof.

By Beau Taylor - Troy School Board Candidate

Experience & Judgment

Anyone can run for school board with a platform. Platforms are easy. What's harder — and what actually matters — is a track record of making difficult decisions under pressure, managing public money with discipline, and delivering results that can be measured. I have that record. Here's what it looks like in practice.

23 Years in public service

200→2 School power outages eliminated in one year

12+Years holding the line on revenue without cuts to service

Building the Public Lighting Authority From Scratch

When I joined Mayor Dave Bing's office in Detroit, the city was approaching bankruptcy and the streetlights were failing across entire neighborhoods. The challenge wasn't just operational — it was structural. There was no legal framework, no independent agency, and no obvious path to sustainable financing. Over two years in the mayor's office, I helped design and build all of it — working across party lines with Republican and Democratic legislators to create the legal basis for the Public Lighting Authority to exist as an independent agency capable of surviving the city's financial crisis.

From there I served three years as Director of the Public Lighting Department under Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and then Mayor Mike Duggan — executing the transition, managing operations, and holding the agency together through one of the most turbulent periods in Detroit's modern history. That is where the blackout decision happened. That is where the Bates parents story happened. That is where two hundred school outages became two.

In 2017 I became CEO of the PLA — the agency I had helped create from scratch. Nine years later it is still running, still solvent, and still delivering. In 2025, rather than request a revenue increase, I went to Wall Street personally — working directly with bond traders — to refinance our existing obligations in a way that extended our financial runway without raising a dollar from the public. It was a complex transaction that required understanding both the capital markets and the operational realities of a public utility. We got the deal done.

The lights came on. They've stayed on. And we have not needed to increase our revenue base in over twelve years — because we built an operation disciplined enough to find efficiencies, adapt to new technology, and do more with what we have. That is not an accident. That is management.

Two Minutes. Downtown or the Neighborhoods.

Early in my tenure as Director of the Public Lighting Department, a cascading power demand crisis gave me roughly two to three minutes to make a decision before the system overloaded. We didn't have enough power to meet demand across the entire grid. Something had to be cut. The choice was between downtown — federal buildings, the city-county building, the courts, the jail, Wayne State University — or the neighborhoods, which included every school in session at that moment.

I cut downtown.

"If I cut the neighborhoods, children would have been released from school mid-day with no crossing guards, no traffic signals, during rush hour. That was not a risk I was willing to take with someone else's child."

It was not a complicated decision for me, but it was consequential. Major institutions lost power. There were phone calls to make and explanations to give. I made them. Because the alternative — releasing children into darkened intersections during peak traffic — was not something I was willing to accept. That is how I think about priorities when the pressure is real and the clock is running.

Five Hundred Angry Parents and a Promise I Kept

When I first became Director of the Public Lighting Department, Detroit Public Schools were experiencing over two hundred building days lost per year due to power outages. The schools most affected were in neighborhoods that could least afford the disruption — including Bates Middle School, a feeder school for students on track to Renaissance High School, one of Detroit's premier magnet programs. Parents were pulling their children out and sending them to charter and private schools. The threat to those programs was real.

I stood in front of roughly five hundred parents who had every reason to be furious and no reason to trust a new director they didn't know. I told them I understood that. I asked them, because of their commitment to their community and their schools, to give me one year before making a decision. I told them I would fix it.

Within twelve months, power outages at Detroit Public Schools dropped from over two hundred to two. Not because I made promises — because I had a plan, the financial and operational background to execute it, and the commitment to follow through. Detroit Public Schools have had reliable power ever since.

I tell that story not to impress anyone, but because it is directly relevant to what Troy needs right now. Choosing schools as a priority is not a campaign position for me. It is something I have actually done, under pressure, with measurable results.

The Right Person Either Way

Troy faces a budget decision this August. If the millage passes — and I believe it will — the question becomes how to deploy those resources wisely. Not to simply backfill the status quo, but to invest strategically in a district that can grow, modernize, and lead. I know how to do that. I have done it with a city coming out of bankruptcy, with far less margin for error than Troy faces today.

If the millage does not pass, the district will need someone who can navigate a genuinely difficult financial restructuring without destroying what makes Troy's schools exceptional. I have structured bond deals on Wall Street and managed public agencies through fiscal crises. I know what it takes to find creative solutions when the conventional options are off the table.

Either way — thriving or rebuilding — the skill set is the same: financial rigor, creative problem solving, fiscal discipline, and an absolute commitment to protecting the people who depend on the institution. I have spent 23 years demonstrating all four. I am not asking Troy to take that on faith. The record is there.

I'd be honored to earn your vote.

Beau Taylor is a candidate for Troy School District School Board, CEO of the Public Lighting Authority of Detroit, and a Troy parent.