Dearest reader,
We have reached the final page of Kalamazoo Public Schools' ledger. 🪶
And sometimes Step Five gives Lady B a financial mess.
This is not one of those times.
Kalamazoo's General Fund ended 2024–25 with:
🪶 $213.37 million in revenue and other financing
🪶 $211.17 million in expenditures
🪶 A $2.20 million surplus
🪶 A $42.70 million ending fund balance
That fund balance equaled 20.22% of General Fund expenditures.
Now let us turn the page.
For 2025–26, the district's close estimate projects a small deficit of $310,849.
But even after that deficit?
The projected ending fund balance remains approximately $42.39 million.
And the preliminary 2026–27 budget is essentially balanced:
$216.10 million coming in.
$216.08 million going out.
Projected surplus: $24,205.
Projected ending fund balance: approximately $42.41 million.
So what does Lady B see here?
Not a district staring into a financial abyss.
Not a General Fund being rapidly depleted.
In fact, Kalamazoo's audited General Fund balance grew from $37.07 million in 2022–23 to $42.70 million in 2024–25.
And that matters.
Because the first four pages of this ledger showed us something else:
Enrollment declined.
Teacher FTE declined.
District/central administrator FTE more than doubled.
Spending per pupil increased substantially in several categories.
Sixty employees earned base salaries above $100,000.
And we found $376,847.72 in identifiable legal spending and $211,516.18 in identifiable advertising/media spending.
Step Five gives those numbers context.
Kalamazoo's story is not simply about whether the district has money.
The more interesting question is how a district with a substantial and relatively stable General Fund balance chooses to allocate the money it has.
And that, dearest reader, is why Lady B never stops at one number.
A deficit without a fund balance tells half a story.
A salary without benefits tells half a story.
A spending increase without inflation tells half a story.
And one year without the years surrounding it?
Well.
You know Lady B better than that by now. 👀🪶
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #KalamazooPublicSchools #Kalamazoo #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #PublicEducation #FundBalance #SchoolSpending #PublicRecords #Transparency #Accountability #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect
Support Lady Budgetdown - https://ko-fi.com/ladybudgetdown