MIDLAND COUNTY: THE SUPERINTENDENT LEDGER IS OPEN
Last night, I took a look at superintendent pay and enrollment across Saginaw County. Tonight, Lady Budgetdown has traveled just a bit west. 🪶
I pulled the most recent available $100,000+ compensation reports from each district's transparency page and paired the reported wages with 2024–25 student enrollment.
Here is what the Midland County ledger shows:
👑 Midland Public Schools
Penny Miller-Nelson
Reported pay: $223,752.20
Students: 7,380
👑 Midland County ESA
John Searles
Reported pay: $198,638.44
Students: N/A — ESA
👑 Meridian Public Schools
Sarah Glann
Reported pay: $167,423.39
Students: 1,374
👑 Bullock Creek School District
Shawn Hale
Reported pay: $163,214.00
Students: 1,673
👑 Coleman Community Schools
Jennifer McCormack
Reported pay: $159,324.29
Students: 559
One important receipt before anyone starts comparing numbers:
District transparency reports do not necessarily use identical wage terminology. These are the wage figures as reported by the districts, not total compensation with retirement, insurance and other benefits added on top.
Coleman's report also notes that its reported Medicare wages include $6,000 in grant-writing stipends.
And because Midland County ESA is an Educational Service Agency rather than a traditional local school district, I have deliberately listed its student count as N/A rather than pretending the two are directly comparable.
So, is $223,752 too much for 7,380 students?
Is $159,324 too much for 559?
Does enrollment even tell us enough by itself to answer that question?
I'm not going to decide that for you. I'll simply put the numbers on the table, provide the receipts, and let you decide which questions are worth asking. 🪶
Receipts aren't very useful if we only keep the convenient ones.
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #MidlandCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolTransparency #PublicEducation #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect