📜 DEAREST READERS, THE LEDGER HAS ARRIVED IN SANILAC COUNTY.
Today, Lady Budgetdown opens the books on Croswell-Lexington Community Schools (76080) and our first stop is the ten-year financial picture.
As always, no conclusions before the numbers. No outrage for sport. Just a decade, two endpoints, and a rather talkative ledger. 🪶
From **2014-15 to 2024-25**:
📉 **Pupil FTE**
2,238 → 1,706.03
**Down 531.97 pupils - 23.8%**
In other words, the district's pupil count declined by nearly one-quarter.
Now let us turn the page.
💰 **All-Sources Revenue Per Pupil**
$9,437 → $14,664
**Up $5,227 - 55.4%**
That is **19.6 percentage points above** our 35.83% cumulative inflation benchmark.
📚 **Total Instruction Per Pupil**
$5,631 → $9,439
**Up $3,808 - 67.6%**
**31.8 points above inflation.**
🪶 **Instructional Support Per Pupil**
$450 → $816
**Up $366 - 81.3%**
**45.5 points above inflation.**
🏛� **Business & Administration Per Pupil**
$1,087 → $1,786
**Up $699 - 64.3%**
**28.5 points above inflation.**
🏫 **Operations & Maintenance Per Pupil**
$823 → $1,435
**Up $612 - 74.4%**
**38.6 points above inflation.**
📊 **Total Support Per Pupil**
$2,905 → $4,687
**Up $1,782 - 61.3%**
**25.5 points above inflation.**
And finally:
💵 **Total General Fund Expenditures Per Pupil**
$9,606 → $14,747
**Up $5,141 - 53.5%**
**17.7 points above inflation.**
But there is one number Lady Budgetdown thinks deserves particular attention.
🍎 **Average Teacher Salary**
$51,623 → $68,951
**Up $17,328 - 33.6%**
Our ten-year inflation benchmark?
**35.83%.**
So while the per-pupil financial categories above grew faster than inflation, some substantially so, **average teacher salary growth did not quite keep pace with inflation.**
That does not, by itself, tell us whether Croswell-Lexington is spending too much, too little, wisely, or poorly. It tells us where to look next.
Because when enrollment falls **23.8%**, while per-pupil revenue and expenditures rise considerably, the next question becomes rather obvious:
**What happened to staffing during the same decade?** 👀
Lady Budgetdown shall be opening that page of the ledger next.
Until then, dearest readers, remember:
**The numbers do not tell us what to think. They tell us what questions to ask.**
🪶 With receipts and respect,
**Lady Budgetdown**
Croswell-Lexington Community Schools
#LadyBudgetdown #CroswellLexington #CrosLex #SanilacCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #PublicEducation #EducationFunding #TaxpayerTransparency #FiscalTransparency #FollowTheNumbers #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect