Dearest reader,
Now that we have followed Kalamazoo Public Schools' money for a decade, let us follow the people. 🪶
Because this ledger gets interesting.
From 2014-15 to 2024-25, pupil count declined 3.4%.
Teacher FTE declined 4.3%.
But elsewhere in the staffing ledger?
Instructional aides: +117.8%
School support: +101.6%
Other support: +43.4%
And then Lady B wandered over to the NCES administrative data.
Total administrators increased 25.2%.
But that number deserves another turn of the page.
School administrators, the people running the buildings were essentially flat:
45.90 FTE → 46.00 FTE.
District/central administrators?
12.95 FTE → 27.70 FTE.
That is an increase of 113.9%.
More than double.
Meanwhile, total staff increased from 1,561.84 FTE to 1,727.92 FTE, up 10.6% while the district served 423 fewer pupils.
Now, numbers do not tell us whether every one of those positions was needed. A spreadsheet cannot tell us that.
But numbers can tell us where an organization changed.
And this one did.
Fewer pupils.
Fewer teacher FTE.
Nearly identical building-administrator FTE.
More than twice the district/central-administrator FTE.
That, dearest reader, is exactly why Lady B looks at ten years instead of one.
One year gives you a photograph.
Ten years gives you the story.
And we are not finished with Kalamazoo's ledger yet.🪶
With receipts and respect.
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