🐇 THE BUSINESS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
PART 2: FOLLOWING THE MONEY
Dearest reader,
Yesterday, we met Munetrix.
Today, we open the ledger.
If you missed Part 1, Munetrix isn't simply the website where some Michigan school districts post transparency documents.
It is a private education technology company that has grown through investment, acquisitions and mergers — while selling financial, academic, transparency and data-analytics products to Michigan's public schools.
So naturally, Lady Budgetdown had a question.
How much public-school money is flowing to this company?
Out came the spectacles.
And the check registers.
I started searching Michigan school districts for actual payments to Munetrix and its current corporate identity, Definable Solutions.
Here is what I could verify from the records I found:
🧾 Plymouth-Canton Community Schools — $19,723.50
🧾 Birmingham Public Schools — $19,353.60
🧾 Avondale School District — $14,832.00
🧾 Waterford School District — $12,788.00
🧾 Hastings Area School District — $12,212.25
🧾 Kenowa Hills Public Schools — $9,715.75
🧾 Sparta Area Schools — $6,989.00
🧾 Public Schools of Petoskey — $6,656.95
🧾 Huron School District — $6,568.00
🧾 Pontiac City School District — $5,969.25
🧾 Battle Creek Public Schools — $5,820.20
🧾 Clarenceville School District — $5,439.00
🧾 St. Charles Community Schools — $3,332.00
🧾 Sandusky Community Schools — $3,304.00
🧾 Manchester Community Schools — $3,250.00
🧾 Clawson Public Schools — $3,038.70
🧾 Mio-AuSable Schools — $1,664.25
Seventeen verified payments.
$140,656.45.
And before anyone races to the comments:
NO — that is not what Michigan schools collectively spend on Munetrix.
It is what I found.
There is a very important difference.
These payments span FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26, and public records are not remotely uniform from district to district. Some districts publish searchable check registers. Some publish PDFs. Some records are easier to locate than others. And some districts may receive services through arrangements that won't necessarily appear as a direct payment to Munetrix in their own check register.
So Lady Budgetdown is not extrapolating.
I am not taking these 17 districts, multiplying them by 500-something and announcing a dramatic statewide number.
That wouldn't be a receipt.
That would be a guess.
But these receipts do tell us something else.
The payments aren't all for the same thing.
One register identifies a "School Financial Module License."
Another says "School Enterprise License Transparency."
Another references financial AND academic modules.
Petoskey's record says "Academic Data Upload."
Birmingham's says "EIDEX MIGRATION."
This is precisely why Part 1 mattered.
Munetrix has grown beyond one financial-transparency product. Its footprint has expanded through acquisitions and mergers into a much broader collection of education-data products and services.
Which brings us right back to the question:
How much ARE Michigan public schools collectively paying this company?
I don't know.
Yet.
And instead of pretending I do, I'm opening the ledger to you.
If your Michigan school district uses Munetrix, Eidex, Definable Solutions or SchoolData Solutions — especially if your district isn't listed above — take a peek at the check register.
Search the vendor payments.
Look through the board packets.
And if you find a receipt, send it my way.
District name.
Amount.
Fiscal year.
And, whenever possible, the document or link where you found it.
We'll add it to the ledger.
Because this series isn't about declaring that every vendor, association or outside service receiving public-school money is inherently bad.
It's about something much simpler.
Following public money.
Understanding the businesses built around public education.
And asking questions taxpayers rarely get the opportunity to ask because nobody has assembled the pieces in one place.
Seventeen districts gave us a start.
Michigan has hundreds more.
Let's see what the ledger says.
🐇 The rabbit hole continues.
#LadyBudgetdown #TheBusinessOfPublicEducation #FollowTheMoney #PublicEducation #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #TaxpayerDollars #Transparency #PublicMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect