SAGINAW PUBLIC SCHOOLS: FEWER PUPILS. MORE ADMINISTRATION.
We've already looked at Saginaw's decade of spending and staffing.
But one number deserved a closer look: administration.
From 2014-15 to 2024-25:
Pupil count fell from 6,900 to 4,961.30, down 28.1%.
At the same time, administrative FTE increased from 23.00 to 28.04, up 21.9%.
So I went back to the financial records to see what happened to the actual dollars.
General + School Administration spending went from approximately $4.23 million to $6.77 million.
That's a 60.0% increase, approximately $2.54 million more per year.
Put another way:
1,939 fewer pupils.
5.04 more administrative FTE.
$2.54 million more in annual administration spending.
And when we broke the staffing down further, district-level administrators showed the largest percentage increase, up 75%.
None of this, by itself, says an administrator or expenditure was unnecessary.
But when enrollment falls 28% while both administrative staffing and administrative spending move substantially in the opposite direction, I think taxpayers are entitled to ask a very simple question:
Did Saginaw appropriately resize its administrative structure as enrollment declined?
The numbers don't answer that question.
They tell us why it's worth asking.