STEP 6 CAN KALKASKA AFFORD A TEACHER RAISE?
And we do not answer it. We put the relevant receipts on one page and let readers ask the question.
Here's what I think belongs in the analysis:
1. Enrollment
Kalkaska has fewer students than a decade ago:
1,611 → 1,330.09 (−17.4%)
That matters because fewer pupils affect both staffing needs and school funding.
2. Teacher staffing
Teacher FTE declined:
81.25 → 70.80 (−12.9%)
So Kalkaska is employing roughly 10.45 fewer teacher FTE than a decade ago.
3. Teacher pay
Average teacher salary:
$50,497 → $68,073 (+34.8%)
Our inflation benchmark over the same period is +35.83%.
So average teacher salary has essentially kept pace with inflation, but trails it by about 1 percentage point.
4. What happened to instructional spending?
This is important because it prevents us from telling an unfair story.
Instruction spending per pupil increased:
$5,765 → $10,128 (+75.7%)
That's nearly 40 percentage points above inflation.
So this is not a district where our Step 1 numbers show instructional spending languishing while everything else exploded.
5. Administrative structure
Total administrators actually declined:
11.30 → 9.40 FTE (−16.8%)
Central administration is essentially unchanged:
3.30 → 3.35 FTE
So again, we don't have evidence supporting a simple "cut the bloated central office and give it to teachers" narrative.
6. The money available today
Latest audited General Fund balance:
$4.15 million
Current budget projections:
2025–26: $3.61M
2026–27: $2.60M
That's the tension in this ledger.
Kalkaska has reserves. But the district is also budgeting to spend those reserves down, reaching roughly 12.1% of expenditures by the end of 2026–27.
So here's where I would stop.
The receipts do not give us enough to responsibly declare, "Yes, Kalkaska can afford X% raises." To calculate that, we'd need the bargaining unit payroll, step movements, longevity, benefits, MPSERS costs, proposed raise structure, recurring revenue assumptions, etc.
But we absolutely have enough to ask:
Kalkaska's teachers are entering negotiations.
Enrollment is down 17.4%.
Teacher FTE is down 12.9%.
Administration is down 16.8%.
Instruction spending per pupil is up 75.7%.
Average teacher salary has essentially tracked inflation.
The latest audit shows $4.15M in General Fund reserves — while future budgets project those reserves declining.
So what portion, if any, can responsibly be committed to teacher compensation without creating a structural deficit?
That is the Step 6 question.
And I like it because the answer genuinely isn't baked into the question. A teacher can look at those receipts and make an argument. The administration can look at the same receipts and make its argument.
Your Lady merely puts the ledger between them. 👑🪶