LADY BUDGETDOWN: CONCORD COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Dearest reader,
Apparently, transparency at Concord Community Schools comes with an expiration date. And nobody seems particularly concerned about updating it.
Well, Lady B is.
I recently examined Concord Community Schools' public-facing Munetrix transparency page.
And quite frankly, what I found is unacceptable.
Michigan taxpayers should not have to play detective to locate basic financial information about their public schools.
Yet here we are.
📋 LET'S LOOK AT WHAT CONCORD IS SHOWING THE PUBLIC.
📌 Board-approved budgets: 2024–25. Two fiscal years behind.
📌 Superintendent compensation: 2021–22. FOUR fiscal years behind.
📌 Personnel expenditures: 2023–24. Two fiscal years old.
📌 Operating expenditures: 2023–24. Two fiscal years old.
📌 District-paid association dues: 2023–24. Two fiscal years old.
📌 Audited financial statements: 2023–24. Two fiscal years old.
And let's be clear about something.
We are currently in the 2026–27 fiscal year.
Concord's public-facing transparency page does not display either the 2025–26 or the 2026–27 board-approved budget.
TWO BUDGET YEARS.
Missing from the very page intended to provide financial transparency to the public.
⚖️ THIS ISN'T OPTIONAL WINDOW DRESSING.
Michigan law, MCL 388.1618, establishes financial transparency requirements for public school districts.
Among those requirements, districts must make their annual operating budgets and subsequent revisions publicly available through the required transparency reporting process within 15 days of board adoption.
Not whenever somebody gets around to updating a page.
Not when a parent asks.
Not when a taxpayer starts digging.
And not only after someone knows which board meeting to search.
Now, before somebody rushes into the comments to tell me these documents are available somewhere else, allow me to save you the trouble.
I am examining Concord's designated public-facing Munetrix transparency page.
A document sitting in a database, buried in a board packet, or stored on another platform does not make the outdated information displayed on that page disappear.
The purpose of financial transparency is to make information readily accessible to the public.
Not to turn it into a scavenger hunt.
💰 AND HERE IS WHY THIS MATTERS.
In my previous examination of Concord Community Schools, I documented that the district's General Fund balance declined from approximately $1.28 million in 2021 to just $18,910 in 2025.
Approximately 99% of its reserves, gone in four years.
The district also reported four consecutive years of operating deficits.
And its administrative spending per pupil was approximately 25% above the statewide median in fiscal year 2025.
Now consider that financial picture alongside a transparency page displaying superintendent compensation information from 2021–22 and budgets that stop at 2024–25.
This is precisely when the public needs timely, accessible financial information.
Not information that is years behind.
👑 LADY B HAS A FEW QUESTIONS.
Who is responsible for maintaining Concord's public-facing transparency page?
Who verifies that required financial disclosures are current?
Why are two fiscal years of budgets absent from the displayed budget section?
And why is the superintendent compensation disclosure still showing information from four fiscal years ago?
These are not unreasonable questions.
These are basic expectations for a publicly funded institution.
I am not declaring that every outdated entry constitutes a separate statutory violation. Different disclosures have different reporting requirements.
But the public-facing information shown here is plainly outdated, and the district owes its community an explanation.
School boards are entrusted with overseeing millions of taxpayer dollars.
Making current financial information accessible should be among the most basic responsibilities of that oversight.
Taxpayers should not have to beg for transparency.
Parents should not have to hunt for transparency.
And Lady B certainly should not have to explain why a public school district's financial reporting page ought to reflect the current fiscal year.
Transparency isn't a favor.
It's a responsibility.
And at Concord Community Schools, the public deserves better than what this page currently displays.
With receipts and respect. 👑
Concord Community School District
Source: Concord Community Schools public-facing Munetrix transparency page, reviewed October 12, 2026. Michigan State School Aid Act, MCL 388.1618.
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