📜 LADY BUDGETDOWN | CHIPPEWA VALLEY SCHOOLS
Ten years. Same district. Same MDE report. Same methodology used for every district Lady Budgetdown reviews.
This time, we're looking at Chippewa Valley Schools (District 50080) and comparing its MDE Bulletin 1014 data from 2014-15 to 2024-25.
Here's what changed:
📉 Fall pupil count
16,543 → 14,255.47
Down 2,287.53 pupils - 13.8%
💰 All Sources Revenue per pupil
$8,891 → $15,140
Up $6,249 - 70.3%
After inflation: +25.4%
📚 Total Instruction per pupil
$5,777 → $9,081
Up $3,304 - 57.2%
After inflation: +15.7%
📝 Instructional Support per pupil
$1,055 → $2,076
Up $1,021 - 96.8%
After inflation: +44.9%
🏛� Business & Administration per pupil
$897 → $1,536
Up $639 - 71.2%
After inflation: +26.1%
🔧 Operations & Maintenance per pupil
$600 → $1,146
Up $546 - 91.0%
After inflation: +40.6%
🍎 Average Teacher Salary
$70,016 → $80,020
Up $10,004 - 14.3%
But after adjusting for the 35.83% cumulative increase in CPI-U from 2015 to 2025, average teacher salary was actually down 15.9% in inflation-adjusted terms.
That contrast is worth noticing.
Over the same decade that Chippewa Valley's fall pupil count declined 13.8%, every per-pupil financial category examined here increased faster than inflation.
At the same time, average teacher salary did not keep pace with inflation. That doesn't tell you what to think about Chippewa Valley Schools.
It does give you something worth asking:
As more money flowed through the district on a per-pupil basis, where did those additional resources go, and how did the district's priorities change over those ten years?
That's a question for the records, not the rhetoric.
Source: Michigan Department of Education, Bulletin 1014, 2014-15 and 2024-25.
Inflation adjustment uses annual-average CPI-U, 2015–2025.
Data compiled and visualized by Lady Budgetdown using publicly available records.
With receipts and respect.
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