LADY BUDGETDOWN: RIVER ROUGE THE SMALLEST DISTRICT AT THE BIGGEST TABLE
Dearest readers, Your Lady has been back in the ledger.
Yesterday, we looked at River Rouge alongside districts much closer to its own size.
Today?
I decided to move the chairs around.
Instead of asking how River Rouge compares with similarly sized districts, I asked a different question:
What happens if we sit River Rouge beside some of the largest school districts in Metro Detroit?
So I pulled the two largest traditional public school districts by pupil count in Macomb, Wayne and Oakland counties.
Six very large districts. Then I added River Rouge. And, well...
The ledger developed an eyebrow. 🪶
📜 2024–25 Pupil Count → 2025 Superintendent Total Compensation
River Rouge
2,760 pupils → $705,173
Detroit DPSCD
48,586 pupils → $568,887
Utica
25,181 pupils → $487,077
Troy
12,249 pupils → $474,549
Chippewa Valley
14,255 pupils → $458,939
Dearborn
19,141 pupils → $408,666
Rochester
14,776 pupils → $389,229
Yes, dearest readers. River Rouge is the smallest district on this ledger. And its superintendent has the highest reported total compensation. Not by a few dollars, either.
Detroit serves approximately 48,586 pupils, more than 17 times River Rouge's pupil count, yet its superintendent's reported total compensation is approximately $136,286 less.
Your Lady is not declaring what a superintendent "should" earn.
That is not what this ledger does.
But when a district serving roughly 2,760 pupils reports higher superintendent compensation than districts serving 12,000, 14,000, 19,000, 25,000, and even 48,000 pupils?
That is context taxpayers deserve to see.
And context, dearest readers, is precisely why we keep the ledger. 📜
The pupil counts come from Michigan's 2024–25 Bulletin 1014. Superintendent compensation comes from the districts' own 2025 compensation/transparency reports.
No rankings.
No opinions disguised as numbers.
Just seven districts, seven sets of receipts, and one rather interesting comparison.
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown 🪶
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