Dearest Readers,
Lady Budgetdown is returning to Ann Arbor Public Schools (81010), this time to look at how student enrollment and staffing have changed over the past decade.
Using publicly available Michigan School Data records, Lady Budgetdown compared 2014–15 with 2024–25.
And Ann Arbor is an interesting one, because the overall totals do not tell the entire story.
🎓 STUDENT ENROLLMENT
2014–15: 16,901 students
2024–25: 16,872 students
Change: −29 students, or −0.2%.
In other words, enrollment was essentially flat over the decade.
Now let's look at staffing.
👥 TOTAL STAFF HEADCOUNT
2014–15: 5,593
2024–25: 5,122
Change: −471, or −8.4%.
📊 TOTAL STAFF FTE
2014–15: 2,848.98 FTE
2024–25: 2,692.23 FTE
Change: −156.75 FTE, or −5.5%.
At first glance, the story might seem fairly simple:
Enrollment stayed essentially the same while overall staffing declined.
But look underneath the total, and the picture changes considerably.
🍎 Teachers
Headcount: 1,199 → 1,608
Increase: +409 (+34.1%)
FTE: 1,160.15 → 1,424.05
Increase: +263.90 (+22.7%)
📚 Paraprofessionals/Aides
Headcount: 314 → 361
Increase: +47 (+15.0%)
FTE: 310.50 → 357.20
Increase: +46.70 (+15.0%)
🏛� Administrators
Headcount: 101 → 104
Increase: +3 (+3.0%)
FTE: 98.10 → 102.10
Increase: +4.00 (+4.1%)
And then there is the category that moved dramatically in the opposite direction.
🏫 Non-Instructional Staff
Headcount: 2,547 → 1,826
Decrease: −721 (−28.3%)
FTE: 1,280.23 → 808.88
Decrease: −471.35 (−36.8%)
That is what Lady Budgetdown finds most interesting about Ann Arbor.
Total FTE declined 5.5%, but teacher FTE increased 22.7% and paraprofessional/aide FTE increased 15.0%. At the same time, non-instructional FTE declined 36.8%.
So this isn't simply a story about Ann Arbor employing fewer people.
It is also a story about where the district's staffing is located within the organization, and how that composition changed over ten years.
There are also day-to-day substitutes in the headcount data. Substitute teacher headcount declined from 1,027 to 958 (−6.7%), while substitute paraprofessional/aide headcount declined from 405 to 265 (−34.6%). Those categories are not reported in the FTE table, which is another reason Lady Budgetdown presents headcount and FTE separately.
And, as always, these numbers don't tell us why the changes occurred.
Programs change. Student needs change. Services can be brought in-house or contracted out. Positions can be reclassified. Staffing models change.
Those questions require additional records and context.
But the numbers themselves establish something important:
Ann Arbor served nearly the same number of students in 2024–25 as it did ten years earlier, with fewer total staff FTE, but substantially more teacher and paraprofessional/aide FTE and substantially fewer non-instructional FTE.
That is a much more complete picture than any single staffing number could provide.
Facts tell the story. Context helps us understand it.
Data compiled and visualized by Lady Budgetdown using publicly available Michigan School Data records.
With receipts and respect.