Dearest reader,
A reader sent me a breadcrumb that led to a question I think is worth asking:
📌 Why was SISD transferring millions of dollars from special-education operating resources into capital projects during a period when local districts were experiencing shortages severe enough that SISD was purchasing virtual speech-language services?
Follow the money.
💰 SPECIAL EDUCATION CAPITAL PROJECTS FUND
June 2023: $4.70 million
June 2024: $11.48 million
June 2025: $20.74 million
And those balances didn't grow on their own.
In FY2024, SISD transferred $4 million from its Special Education Fund into the capital fund.
In FY2025, it transferred another $9.51 million.
That's roughly $13.5 million moved from Special Education into capital projects in two years.
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🖥� NOW FOLLOW THE SPEECH SERVICES
SISD has been using Presence Learning to provide virtual special-education services, including speech-language pathology.
2023–24: SISD was named Presence Learning's "Partner of the Year."
2025–26: SISD continued contracting for virtual speech and school-psychology services.
January 2026: SISD approved 3.0 additional FTE of virtual speech therapy specifically because of shortages.
July 2026: SISD approved another Presence agreement for virtual speech and school-psychology services.
September 2026: that agreement was updated to provide additional school psychologist and speech-pathologist services, not to exceed $702,180.
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There is an important distinction here: money already transferred into a capital-project fund isn't simply ordinary payroll money.
But before those millions were transferred, they were in the Special Education Fund.
And that's what makes the question worth asking.
Could different spending priorities have helped SISD recruit or retain more in-person speech-language pathologists?
Would additional compensation have made a difference?
Or was the shortage severe enough that virtual services were unavoidable regardless of the money available?
I don't have those answers.
But when millions of special-education dollars are being moved into capital projects while students are receiving services from professionals through a computer screen because of staffing shortages, I think the question deserves to be asked.
Receipts aren't very useful if we only keep the convenient ones. 🫖
#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #SaginawISD #SpecialEducation #SpeechLanguagePathology #SchoolFinance #FollowTheMoney #MichiganSchools #PublicEducation #OurStory