DEAREST READER... ONE MORE STOP IN CARROLLTON.
After five posts through the Carrollton Public Schools ledger, your Lady noticed something else.
This one isn't about whether a document was filed with the State of Michigan.
It's about what the public is supposed to be able to find on the district's own website.
Michigan law requires public school districts to maintain certain financial information through their Budget & Salary/Compensation Transparency Reporting page.
And the Michigan Department of Education is rather specific about what belongs there.
Among the required information:
📜 The district's current board-approved budget and subsequent amendments
📜 Expenditure information
📜 Current collective bargaining agreements
📜 Health care plan information
📜 The district's audited financial statements
📜 Either an accounts-payable check register OR a statement of reimbursed expenses
📜 Employee compensation information required under the law, including superintendent compensation and fringe benefits
📜 Association dues
📜 Lobbying expenditures
📜 Credit-card information
📜 Out-of-state travel information
...and several other required disclosures.
These aren't merely documents that would be nice for taxpayers to have.
They're part of Michigan's statutory school transparency requirements.
And MDE's guidance doesn't simply say, "Put something up there eventually."
For example, its reporting schedule calls for the audited financial statements from the previous fiscal year to be posted within 30 days of audit submission. The accounts-payable check register or reimbursed-expense statement is also a previous-fiscal-year disclosure. Employee compensation is based on the previous calendar year and is to be updated within 30 days of W-2 issuance.
So your Lady returned to Carrollton's transparency page.
What did I find?
🔎 Most recent check register posted: 2023
🔎 Most recent audited financial statements posted: 2022–23
🔎 Most recent $100,000+ employee compensation report posted: Calendar Year 2023
Could there be other outdated items on the page?
Perhaps.
But after six visits to Carrollton, even your Lady eventually has to put the quill down. 🪶
The point isn't that Carrollton necessarily failed to prepare or submit these records elsewhere.
That's a different question.
The question here is much simpler:
If Michigan requires financial information to be made available to the public through a district's transparency reporting page, why are several of Carrollton's required disclosures years out of date?
Transparency works considerably better when the "transparency" page is current.
With receipts & respect. 👑🪶
Carrollton Public Schools
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