**LADY BUDGETDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS**
### **Lamphere Schools: A Decade in Dollars**
Dearest Readers,
With **Lamphere Schools asking voters to approve a bond this November**, Lady Budgetdown thought it only proper to open the ledger and see what has happened to the district's finances over the last decade.
And the ledger has quite a story to tell. 👀
🎓 **ENROLLMENT**
2,746 ➡️ 2,426
📉 **DOWN 11.7%**
That's approximately **320 fewer students**.
But while the number of students declined, the dollars certainly did not.
💰 **Revenue from All Sources**
$30.33M ➡️ $46.08M
📈 **+51.9%**
📚 **Total Instruction**
$20.28M ➡️ $26.12M
📈 **+28.8%**
👩�🏫 **Instruction Salaries**
$19.24M ➡️ $22.64M
📈 **+17.7%**
📖 **Instruction Support**
$3.00M ➡️ $7.64M
📈 **+154.8%**
🏢 **Business & Administration**
$3.84M ➡️ $4.52M
📈 **+17.7%**
🔧 **Operations & Maintenance**
$3.04M ➡️ $4.80M
📈 **+57.9%**
🍎 **Average Teacher Salary**
$68,495 ➡️ $77,939
📈 **+13.8%**
But Society must account for inflation.
Over this period, inflation was approximately **35.8%**.
After adjusting for inflation:
💰 Revenue: **+11.9% real**
📚 Total Instruction: **−5.1% real**
👩�🏫 Instruction Salaries: **−13.3% real**
📖 Instruction Support: **+87.6% real**
🏢 Business & Administration: **−13.3% real**
🔧 Operations & Maintenance: **+16.3% real**
🍎 Average Teacher Salary: **−16.2% real**
And there, Dear Readers, is where the ledger becomes particularly interesting.
Over ten years:
**Enrollment fell 11.7%.**
Yet...
**Total revenue increased 51.9%.**
**Operations & Maintenance increased 57.9%.**
And **Instruction Support increased an extraordinary 154.8% — from roughly $3 million to $7.64 million.**
Meanwhile, the average teacher salary increased just **13.8%**, well below inflation.
And now?
🗳� **Lamphere Schools is asking voters to approve a bond this November.**
Which makes examining the last decade more than an exercise in history.
Before taxpayers authorize additional borrowing, they may reasonably ask:
**Where have the additional dollars gone?**
**Why have some areas increased dramatically while enrollment declined?**
**And what specifically will this new bond accomplish?**
Lady Budgetdown does not tell Society how to vote.
She simply believes that when taxpayers are asked for more...
**they deserve to see the receipts first.** 🪶
*Source: Michigan Department of Education Bulletin 1014, 2014–15 and 2024–25. Financial totals calculated from MDE-reported per-pupil figures multiplied by reported pupil FTE.*
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