Dearest Readers,
Our next stop brings Lady Budgetdown to Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (82100) for another look at what ten years of publicly reported financial data can tell us.
As always, this is not about declaring whether spending is "good" or "bad." It is about putting the numbers side by side and allowing readers to see what changed.
Between 2014–15 and 2024–25, Plymouth-Canton's average pupil count declined from 17,604 to 16,025.60.
That is a decrease of approximately 1,578 pupils, or 9.0%.
During that same period:
💰 Total Funding per Pupil
$9,072 → $15,100
+$6,028 | +66.4%
🏛� Total Instruction per Pupil
$5,753 → $8,828
+$3,075 | +53.5%
📚 Instructional Support per Pupil
$1,158 → $2,617
+$1,459 | +126.0%
📊 Business & Administration per Pupil
$836 → $1,510
+$674 | +80.6%
🔧 Operations & Maintenance per Pupil
$809 → $1,406
+$597 | +73.8%
🍎 Average Teacher Salary
$65,586 → $76,594
+$11,008 | +16.8%
For additional context, cumulative CPI-U inflation over the period was approximately 35.83%.
That means funding per pupil, instruction, instructional support, business and administration, and operations and maintenance all increased at rates above inflation.
Average teacher salary did not. Its 16.8% increase was approximately 19 percentage points below inflation.
Perhaps the simplest way to view the decade is this:
Plymouth-Canton served approximately 9% fewer pupils while total funding per pupil increased 66.4%.
Where those additional dollars went, and how the district's spending priorities changed along the way, is precisely why looking beyond a single headline number matters.
No verdict from Lady Budgetdown.
Just ten years of numbers, placed side by side.
Source: Michigan Department of Education Financial Data, 2014–15 and 2024–25.
Data compiled and visualized by Lady Budgetdown using publicly available records.
With receipts and respect.