Dearest reader, this was not one of Lady Budgetdown's scheduled steps.
This was a breadcrumb.
A follower contacted me about Ashley Community Schools and raised several concerns. After completing Ashley's regular financial and staffing steps, one part of that message kept nagging at me:
This is an extraordinarily small district.
So I followed the breadcrumb, using public records, I asked a very simple question:
How much administration does a district with fewer than 200 pupils need?
Here's why the question caught my attention.
Over ten years, Ashley's pupil count fell from 268 to 192.75, down 28.1%.
During that same period, reported administrative FTE increased from 3.50 to 4.00, up 14.3%.
Then Step Four showed something else: in 2024-25, General Administration and School Administration expenditures totaled $640,110, 17.39% of the entire General Fund.
So I kept digging.
By 2023, Ashley publicly identified three multi-role leadership positions:
🪶 Superintendent / HS Principal
🪶 K-8 Principal / Preschool Director
🪶 Dean of Students / Athletic Director
And I want to emphasize "multi-role." These were not necessarily three people sitting behind desks doing one administrative job apiece. In a tiny district, people wear multiple hats.
But then came perhaps the most interesting receipt of all.
For 2026-27, Ashley and Fulton are moving toward sharing one superintendent.
Well now.
That doesn't prove Ashley's previous structure was wrong. It doesn't prove anyone was overpaid, unnecessary, or doing anything improper.
What it does show is that the district itself is now exploring exactly the kind of economy of scale that the numbers made me wonder about.
So no, this wasn't a scheduled Lady Budgetdown step.
A follower dropped a breadcrumb.
The regular Ashley steps made me wonder whether there might actually be something underneath it.
And when the ledger starts asking the same question the breadcrumb did, Her Ladyship follows the trail. 🪶
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #AshleyCommunitySchools #GratiotCounty #SchoolFinance #MichiganSchools #FollowTheReceipts #WithReceiptsAndRespect