Dearest reader,
The Saginaw Township ledger is getting another page.
Step Four is about teachers.
But perhaps more importantly, it is about the difference between what it costs a district to employ people and what those people actually earn.
Because those are not the same number.
Over this eleven-year ledger, Saginaw Township Community Schools served 6.7% fewer students.
Teacher FTE did not fall with enrollment. It actually increased slightly, from 212.15 to 215.99.
That matters.
STCS maintained its teacher staffing capacity even while serving fewer students.
But then I followed the salary receipt.
Average teacher salary increased from $63,495 in 2014-15 to $71,284 in 2024-25.
That's a 12.3% increase.
Inflation over the same period was approximately 35.8%.
Adjusted for that inflation, the purchasing power of the average STCS teacher salary fell approximately 17.3%.
And then Lady B opened another part of the ledger.
Personnel costs.
The records show salary expenditures rising from approximately $21.83 million in 2014-15 to $28.27 million in 2023-24.
That's an increase of 29.5%.
Benefit-related expenditures increased even faster, from approximately $14.43 million to $22.45 million, or 55.6%.
Total personnel expenditures increased approximately 39.9%.
So here's the question:
If the cost of employing people was rising substantially faster than average teacher salaries, where was the difference going?
At least part of the answer appears in the benefit side of the ledger.
Michigan's public-school retirement system matters here. The audits document increases in retirement costs, and some state MPSERS funding operates as money received by the district and then recorded as corresponding retirement expenditures.
In other words, a larger personnel expenditure does not automatically mean a larger paycheck for the person standing in the classroom.
That's an important distinction.
The receipts do not show STCS abandoning teacher staffing as enrollment declined.
They also do not show teacher salaries keeping pace with the cost of living.
What they show is something more complicated:
Fewer students.
Slightly more teacher FTE.
Higher nominal salaries.
Lower purchasing power.
And personnel costs rising faster than salaries.
That doesn't give us a villain.
It gives us another question.
And that's why Lady Budgetdown keeps opening the ledger.
The numbers tell us what changed.
Then we ask why.
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown
#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #TheLedger #FollowTheMoney #FiscalTransparency #TeacherPay #SchoolFinance #SaginawTownship #MichiganSchools #PublicEducation
Sources:
Saginaw Township Community Schools — audited financial statements and independent auditor reports, including fiscal years 2014-15 and 2017-18.
Saginaw Township Community Schools / CEPI — 2023-24 Operating Expenditures report.
Michigan Department of Education — Bulletin 1014, Michigan Public Schools Ranked by Select Financial Information, 2014-15 through 2024-25.
Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) — Registry of Educational Personnel (REP), December FTE files, 2014-15 through 2024-25. CEPI states that districts report personnel data through REP, and MI School Data publishes annual FTE files from those submissions.
Michigan Department of Education — State Aid & School Finance / MPSERS Section 147c Information &