DEAREST READER: WHEN THE CUTS REACHED THE STUDENTS, WHAT HAD ALREADY BEEN CUT UPSTAIRS?
A breadcrumb arrived from Trenton Public Schools tonight.
And this time, I did not need to disappear down a rabbit hole until the spectacles cracked and the abacus begged for mercy.
Because sometimes the receipts do not give us the answer.
Sometimes they give us the question.
Trenton Public Schools has a very real financial problem. The district's recent budgets show millions of dollars being drawn from General Fund reserves.
But before anyone reaches for the easiest explanation, there is something else worth noting:
This does not appear to be the story of a district suddenly losing some massive chunk of its students. Recent enrollment had actually risen before softening. The financial cliff is considerably sharper than the enrollment change.
So I started looking somewhere else:
Upstairs.
Trenton's own current directory identifies a central-office leadership structure that includes a Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Chief Human Resources and Operations Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Director of Technology. The Assistant Superintendent's responsibilities include instruction, technology, and state and federal programs.
Then I opened Trenton Public Schools' Calendar Year 2025 Employee Compensation over $100,000 report.
Now we have receipts.
The titles used on the payroll disclosure do not perfectly match the titles currently displayed on the district website, so I am deliberately comparing functions rather than assigning every payroll line to a named employee.
Here is what TPS reported for five core central-office leadership functions:
Superintendent — $305,922.37 total compensation
Curriculum leadership — $248,343.00
Human Resources — $229,363.09
Business/Finance — $205,365.35
Technology — $193,600.76
Combined total compensation: $1,182,594.57.
Those figures include Medicare wages, retirement, fringe benefits and FICA as reported by Trenton Public Schools.
And before somebody starts typing furiously:
No. I am not saying Trenton should fire an administrator.
I am not saying these positions are unnecessary.
I am not saying an Assistant Superintendent should disappear.
And I am certainly not choosing which employee should lose a livelihood.
I am asking a question.
And here it is:
WHEN THE CUTS REACHED THE STUDENTS, WHAT HAD ALREADY BEEN CUT UPSTAIRS?
Because now we need to come downstairs.
To Trenton High School.
Sarah Riley is the Career Specialist who runs the THS Career Center and coordinates DCTC. According to the district itself, her work includes career exploration, college visits, scholarships, FAFSA assistance, job shadowing, résumé building, employment opportunities, apprenticeships, skilled trades and individual post-secondary planning.
The THS Counseling Department even specifically directs students to Sarah Riley for help navigating post-secondary options and career pathways.
And the district's own skilled-trades page tells students:
"The THS Career Center can help! Come see Mrs. Riley in B101."
According to Riley's public statement following the September 14 Board of Education meeting, because of district-wide financial cuts, her employment will end in December.
Her reported 2025 gross wages were $36,851.57.
Read that number again.
$36,851.57.
Now, that is gross wages, not total compensation, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
But it brings me right back to the ledger.
If Trenton Public Schools reached a financial position where a student-facing employee earning roughly $37,000 in gross wages had to be eliminated as part of district-wide financial cuts...
what had already been cut upstairs?
Were central-office positions eliminated?
Were administrative vacancies left unfilled?
Were responsibilities consolidated?
Were administrative costs reduced?
Was there a broader restructuring before the cuts reached the Career Center?
Maybe there is an answer.
I genuinely want to hear it.
This isn't a declaration that Trenton has "too many administrators." Five compensation lines cannot establish that.
It isn't an argument that one employee should lose a job so another employee can keep hers.
It is simply the question these receipts left sitting on my ledger:
🪶 When the cuts reached the students, what had already been cut upstairs?
Trenton parents, employees, board members and community members, this is where you come in.
If there were central-office reductions, reorganizations, positions eliminated, vacancies left unfilled, or other financial context that belongs beside these numbers, bring me the receipts.
I will gladly put them on the ledger.
Because sometimes following the numbers doesn't mean finding every answer.
Sometimes it means knowing when you have enough receipts to ask the right question.
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown 🪶
SOURCES
• Trenton Public Schools — 2025 Employee Compensation over $100,000 (Medicare Wages), Calendar Year 2025.
• Trenton Public Schools — Central Office / Contact Us directory.
• Trenton Public Schools — Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Technology, State & Federal Programs.
• Trenton High School — Career Center / Mrs. Riley.
• Trenton High School — Career Center Areas of Service.
• Trenton High School — Counseling Department.
• Trenton Public Schools — Budget & Salary/Compensation Transparency Reporting.
• Trenton Public Schools — DCTC/CTE program information.
• Sarah Riley — public statement regarding the announced December end of her employment.
• Mackinac Center public salary database — Sarah Riley, Trenton Public Schools, 2025 gross wages: $36,851.57.
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