WELL, SINCE SOMEBODY ASKED ABOUT TEACHER SALARIES...
Lady Budgetdown went back to the ledger. 🪶
Earlier I showed you what happened to staffing in Troy Public Schools over the last decade.
Then somebody asked a perfectly reasonable question:
What happened to average teacher salaries during that same period?
Oh, fine. Twist my arm....
Out came the Michigan Department of Education's Bulletin 1014 reports.
And since the books were already open, I didn't stop at teacher salaries.
Here's Troy, 2014–15 compared with 2024–25:
📚 Pupils:
12,642 → 12,249.25
Down 392.75, or 3.1%
🍎 Average teacher salary:
$73,622 → $81,669
Up $8,047, or 10.9%
💰 All-sources revenue per pupil:
$10,804 → $15,558
Up $4,754, or 44.0%
📖 Instructional salaries & benefits per pupil:
$6,917 → $9,373
Up $2,456, or 35.5%
🏛� Business & administration per pupil:
$984 → $1,456
Up $472, or 48.0%
🔧 Operations & maintenance per pupil:
$686 → $1,223
Up $537, or 78.3%
Now let's give those percentages a little context.
Inflation over the same period was approximately 35.83%.
So while Troy's average teacher salary increased 10.9%, it trailed inflation by about 24.9 percentage points.
Instructional salaries and benefits per pupil?
35.5%, almost exactly inflation.
Meanwhile, all-sources revenue per pupil increased 44.0%, business and administration per pupil increased 48.0%, and operations and maintenance per pupil increased 78.3%.
And remember:
That 1% on my earlier staffing graphic was the increase in teacher FTE. It was not a 1% teacher raise.
Two completely different numbers from two completely different ledgers. 📜
Lady Budgetdown isn't deciding which of these increases was right, wrong, too much or too little. I'm just putting the same ten years next to each other so you can see where the numbers moved.
Because sometimes one question opens another page.
Source: Michigan Department of Education — Bulletin 1014, 2014–15 and 2024–25.
With receipts and respect. 🪶
#LadyBudgetdown #TroyPublicSchools #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #TeacherPay #EducationFunding #TheReceipts