Dearest reader,
A breadcrumb landed on my desk about Saginaw ISD's Special Education millage.
So, naturally, I opened the ledger.
And I have a question.
Saginaw ISD's audited financial statements show its Special Education Capital Projects Fund growing rather quickly:
June 2023: $4.70 million
June 2024: $11.48 million
June 2025: $20.74 million
That caught my attention.
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In FY2024, SISD transferred $4 million from its Special Education Fund into the Special Education Capital Projects Fund.
Then came FY2025.
SISD transferred another $9.51 million from Special Education into the capital fund.
That year, the capital fund received $9.93 million in total transfers — but reported only $667,356 in facilities acquisition expenditures.
By June 30, 2025, the balance assigned for Special Education capital projects had reached:
$20,744,275.
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But there was another breadcrumb in the audits.
The transfers did not simply grow.
They repeatedly exceeded the amounts in SISD's final amended budgets.
FY2023:
Final budget — $3.11 million
Actual transfers — $5.48 million
Over budget — $2.38 million
FY2024:
Final budget — $3.83 million
Actual transfers — $6.36 million
Over budget — $2.53 million
And in FY2025, Special Education expenditures and transfers again exceeded the final amended budget. SISD's audit says a significant reason was increased funding transferred into the Special Education Capital Projects Fund to plan for future capital expenditures.
Future capital expenditures.
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So I kept looking for the capital projects.
At June 30, 2025, SISD reported $20.74 million assigned for Special Education capital projects.
The same audited financial statements reported just $226,109 in active construction commitments at year-end, associated with Millet Learning Center.
That does NOT mean SISD had no plans for the remaining money. A district can reserve money for a project before signing construction contracts.
But it does leave me with a fairly simple question:
What was the plan for $20.74 million?
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Because this isn't a few hundred thousand dollars that happened to remain at year-end.
The fund went:
$4.70 million → $11.48 million → $20.74 million.
Meanwhile, millions were being transferred above the amounts contained in the final budgets.
And in FY2025 alone, $9.51 million moved from Special Education into capital while the capital fund spent about $667,000 on facilities acquisition.
I have searched SISD's publicly available audits, financial reports, board materials and capital information looking for a project schedule that accounts for that balance.
I haven't found one yet.
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To be clear, the money isn't "missing."
Quite the opposite.
It is sitting right there in SISD's audited financial statements.
And the transfers aren't hidden either.
They're right there too.
The question is what taxpayers were accumulating more than $20 million FOR — and why millions of dollars in transfers repeatedly exceeded the amounts SISD had put into its final budgets.
Maybe there is a perfectly reasonable capital plan behind every dollar.
If there is, Lady B would very much like to see the breadcrumbs.
Because $20,744,275 is a rather large breadcrumb to leave sitting on the ledger.
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown 👑