Dearest reader,
We have followed the St. Johns Public Schools ledger from the dollars to the people, and this is where the decade becomes particularly interesting. 🧐📜
From 2014–15 to 2024–25, St. Johns went from 3,069 pupils to 2,459.79.
That is a decline of 609.21 pupils.
Nearly one out of every five.
Enrollment: −19.85%.
So naturally, Lady Budgetdown wanted to know what happened to staffing while nearly 20% of the pupils disappeared from the ledger.
Teachers declined from 133.83 FTE to 122.73 FTE.
That is a decrease of 8.3%.
But then we arrive at administration - and here, dearest reader, we need to put on the spectacles and distinguish between two very different things. 🧐
Total administrative FTE increased modestly, from 15.10 to 16.00, or 6.0%.
But underneath that total, the administrative structure shifted considerably.
School-level administrators - the administrators working at the building level - declined from 11.10 FTE to 9.00.
That is a decrease of 18.9%.
Meanwhile, LEA/District Administrators, what we commonly think of as central or district-level administration, increased from 4.00 FTE to 7.00.
That is an increase of 75%.
Let us put those numbers beside one another:
Pupils: −19.85%
Teachers: −8.3%
School Administrators: −18.9%
District/Central Administrators: +75.0%
And total staff?
Despite having 609 fewer pupils, NCES total staff increased from 325.81 FTE to 335.28 FTE, an increase of 2.9%.
Now, as always, these numbers do not tell us why St. Johns made these staffing decisions. Job classifications can change. Responsibilities can move. Programs can expand. Reporting structures can change over a decade.
But the receipts do tell us what was reported.
And when a district loses nearly 20% of its pupils while district-level administrative FTE increases 75%, I think that is a perfectly reasonable trend for taxpayers, parents, teachers, and perhaps even a certain lady with an abacus to notice.
Especially after Step 1 showed Business & Administration spending per pupil increased 67.60% after inflation over this same period.
Coincidence? Restructuring? Additional responsibilities? A deliberate change in how resources were allocated?
I don't know yet.
And Lady Budgetdown does not fill gaps in the ledger with guesses.
We simply put the receipts on the table and ask the question:
With nearly one-fifth fewer pupils, what drove the increase in district-level administration?
Perhaps St. Johns has an answer.
Until then, the ledger simply says what it says. 🧐📜
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #StJohnsPublicSchools #StJohnsMichigan #ClintonCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #SchoolAdministration #CentralAdministration #TeacherStaffing #PublicEducation #EducationTransparency #FollowTheReceipts #TheLedger #WithReceiptsAndRespect