🪶 TRAVERSE CITY AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: STEP 2: WHO CHANGED AS ENROLLMENT CHANGED?
Yesterday's ledger was about the money.
Now I'm turning to the people.
Using MI School Data/CEPI Registry of Educational Personnel data, I compared staffing FTE in 2014–15 with 2024–25 for Traverse City Area Public Schools.
First, remember what happened to enrollment:
👥 Pupil Count: −12.46%
10,000 → 8,754.02
Now look at staffing over that same period:
🏛� Administrators
45.51 → 45.40 FTE
Down 0.11 FTE, or 0.24%
🍎 Teachers
435.78 → 389.99 FTE
Down 45.79 FTE, or 10.51%
👥 Paraprofessionals
71.02 → 55.31 FTE
Down 15.71 FTE, or 22.12%
💼 Non-Instructional Staff
418.21 → 412.49 FTE
Down 5.72 FTE, or 1.37%
Altogether:
Total Staff FTE fell from 970.52 to 903.19, a decrease of 67.33 FTE, or 6.94%.
And that's where the ledger gets interesting.
TCAPS served 12.46% fewer pupils, but total staffing FTE declined only 6.94%.
More importantly, the reductions weren't distributed evenly.
Teacher FTE declined 10.51%.
Paraprofessional FTE declined 22.12%.
But administrative FTE?
Down just 0.24%.
And non-instructional staffing?
Down just 1.37%.
Put another way, TCAPS had about 1,246 fewer pupils, yet administrative staffing was essentially unchanged over the decade.
That doesn't tell me whether those positions were necessary or unnecessary. FTE data alone can't answer that question.
But it does show where the staffing reductions occurred, and where they largely didn't.
And paired with Step 1, we now know something else: while pupil count declined, revenue per pupil increased 58.75%, and average teacher salary increased only 20.67%, below the 35.83% rise in inflation.
The ledger is starting to tell a story.
But I'm not finished reading it yet. 👑🪶
Source: MI School Data / CEPI, Registry of Educational Personnel (REP), Fall 2014 & Fall 2024.
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #TraverseCity #TCAPS #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #SchoolStaffing #FollowTheMoney