Oh, River Rouge... you have given Lady Budgetdown a rather different ledger to open.
Most of our recent ten-year comparisons have begun with the same rather gloomy first entry: fewer pupils.
Not this one.
River Rouge Community Schools grew from 1,506 pupils in 2014–15 to 2,760.32 in 2024–25.
That is an increase of 83.3%.
Nearly double the pupils certainly changes the complexion of a ledger, so Lady Budgetdown pulled out Bulletin 1014 to see what happened to the dollars alongside them.
And this one is rather interesting. 👀
All-sources revenue per pupil increased from $12,573 to $17,036, up 35.5%.
For perspective, inflation over the same period was 35.83%.
In other words, revenue per pupil essentially kept pace with inflation.
But where those per-pupil dollars moved is where my quill started tapping.
🪶 Total instruction per pupil:
$5,800 → $9,615
Up 65.8%
🪶 Business & administration per pupil:
$1,532 → $2,286
Up 49.2%
🪶 Instructional support per pupil:
$1,643 → $2,596
Up 58.0%
🪶 Operations & maintenance per pupil:
$1,370 → $1,812
Up 32.3%
And then we arrive at the teachers.
Average teacher salary went from $55,827 to $70,177.
That is an increase of 25.7% — about 10 percentage points below inflation.
So River Rouge presents Lady Budgetdown with a rather unusual set of breadcrumbs:
Enrollment surged.
Revenue per pupil essentially tracked inflation.
Instruction spending per pupil grew substantially faster than inflation.
Business and administration spending per pupil did too.
Yet average teacher salary did not keep pace with inflation.
That does not tell us why.
But it certainly tells us where to open the ledger next. 🧐
Onward to the staffing receipts.
With receipts & respect. 🪶
#LadyBudgetdown #RiverRougeCommunitySchools #RiverRouge #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #PublicEducation #EducationSpending #SchoolTransparency #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect