Dearest reader,
There is a business built around public education. And Lady B has been following the money.
Yesterday, we examined the Michigan School Business Officials (MSBO), an organization reporting approximately $5.78 million in annual revenue and $10.74 million in assets.
Today, Lady B went looking through school district check registers.
And look what the ledger revealed.
Just 8 Michigan public education entities.
$25,990 in identified payments to MSBO.
Here are the receipts:
Saginaw Intermediate School District: $190.00
Saginaw Public Schools: $810.00
Grosse Ile Township Schools: $10,730.00
Trenton Public Schools: $1,575.00
River Rouge Public Schools: $910.00
Grand Blanc Community Schools: $3,245.00
Lansing School District: $1,815.00
Utica Community Schools: $6,715.00
TOTAL: $25,990.00
And what were these payments for?
Memberships. Workshops. Conferences. Certifications. Professional development.
Michigan has 537 local school districts, 56 intermediate school districts, and hundreds of public school academies.
Lady B has examined only a small fraction of them.
So here's a question worth asking.
How much taxpayer money flows from Michigan's public schools into the organizations that have built a business around public education?
And more importantly, how much of that spending ultimately benefits the teachers, support staff, and students those dollars are meant to serve?
Lady B isn't suggesting professional development has no value. But every dollar has a destination, and taxpayers deserve to know where their education dollars go.
Public education is not a business.
But there certainly is a business built around public education.
And Lady B intends to keep following the money.
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown 🪶
Note: The $25,990 represents identified payments across multiple fiscal years, not a single-year statewide total. The Trenton amount includes MSBO-identified purchasing-card spending.
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