Dearest reader,
Sometimes a trip through the ledger begins with a district.
And sometimes it begins with a question.
Does being a small school district make the numbers easier?
Does having fewer students somehow guarantee a prettier ledger?
Well.
I happened to have an abacus nearby. 👀
So tonight I opened the books on Merrill Community Schools, a small Saginaw County district with just 458.73 pupils in 2024–25.
That is actually smaller than Rudyard Area Schools, which recently earned a Green Circle here.
And the ledger?
It told a very different story.
Over ten years:
🧮 Pupils
680.00 → 458.73
↓ 32.54%
💰 All-sources revenue per pupil
$9,163 → $16,798
↑ 83.32%
After inflation: +47.49%
📚 Instruction per pupil
$5,469 → $10,189
↑ 86.31%
After inflation: +50.48%
🧑�🏫 Instructional support per pupil
$871 → $807
↓ 7.35%
After inflation: −43.18%
💼 Business & administration per pupil
$1,345 → $2,427
↑ 80.45%
After inflation: +44.62%
🛠� Operations & maintenance per pupil
$793 → $1,936
↑ 144.14%
After inflation: +108.31%
And then there are the teachers.
🎓 Average teacher salary
$48,489 → $61,294
↑ 26.41%
Sounds like an increase.
Until the spectacles go on.
Cumulative CPI over the same period was approximately 35.83%.
That leaves average teacher salary growth approximately:
9.42% behind inflation.
Meanwhile, Merrill lost nearly one-third of its pupils.
Now, dearest reader, this is precisely why I don't grade districts according to their enrollment.
A district with 150 students gets the same ledger as a district with 15,000.
Small districts can produce excellent numbers.
Large districts can produce excellent numbers.
And both can produce numbers that deserve questions.
When the receipts deserve criticism, I will ask questions.
When the receipts deserve recognition, I will happily draw a great big green circle around them.
The size of the district doesn't determine the color of the ink.
The receipts do.
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #MerrillCommunitySchools #SaginawCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #TeacherPay #PublicEducation #FollowTheReceipts #NumbersTellAStoryToo #WithReceiptsAndRespect