Dearest reader,

"No tax increase" sounds wonderfully simple.

But there is another number St. Charles Community Schools taxpayers may want to see:

What happens to the tax if the new bond does not pass? Because that tells a rather different story.

St. Charles currently levies 3.75 mills for its existing debt.

According to the district's own financial adviser, if no additional debt is added, that millage is projected to start falling next year:

2026: 3.75 mills
2027: 2.41 mills
2028: 2.40 mills
2029: 2.40 mills
2030: 2.20 mills
2031: 2.15 mills
2032: 2.15 mills
2033: 2.05 mills
2034: 1.99 mills
2035: 0.00 mills

In other words, without another bond, the existing debt is projected to be paid off and the debt millage goes to zero in 2035.
   
But St. Charles is asking voters to approve another $10.475 million in bonds. Under that proposal, as the old debt rolls off, new debt takes its place.

The district's financial adviser projects the total debt levy remaining at 3.75 mills through 2031 before gradually declining. The new debt continues through 2046.     

And that is where "0.00 millage increase" deserves a little context.

Is it a 0.00 mill increase compared with the 3.75 mills taxpayers are paying today?

Yes.

But is the cost $0 compared with what taxpayers would pay if the new bond did not pass?

No.

Using the average 2026 residential taxable value in the St. Charles school district of approximately $68,137, the difference in 2027 alone is about $91.

Without the new bond: 2.41 mills.

With the new bond: 3.75 mills.

Then look at 2035.

Without the new bond: 0.00 mills.

With the new bond: an estimated 3.22 mills.

At today's average residential taxable value, 3.22 mills would equal
approximately $219 per year.

Of course, taxable values will change over time, so that $219 is simply an illustration using today's average. But the difference in the millage schedules is right there in the district's own financial documents.

The proposed bonds total $10.475 million in principal. Estimated interest is another $6.84 million, bringing estimated total debt service to approximately $17.3 million.

So perhaps the question for St. Charles voters is not simply:

"Will my tax rate increase?"

Perhaps it is:

"What would my tax rate become if we did not add another bond?"

Because there is a rather important difference between a tax not increasing... and a tax that was scheduled to decrease being replaced with new debt.

As always, Lady B merely brings the receipts.

You decide what they mean.

#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #StCharlesCommunitySchools #StCharlesSchools #StCharlesMI #SaginawCounty #SchoolBonds #SchoolFinance #MichiganSchools #TaxpayerTransparency #FollowTheMoney #PublicEducation #BondProposal #PropertyTaxes

🐷 DEAREST READER... APPARENTLY WE HAVE REACHED THE PIG PORTION OF OUR PROGRAM.

This morning, a rather interesting breadcrumb landed upon Lady B's desk.

Scott Sawyer, Associate Superintendent of Finance for Bay City Public Schools, sent a message through the MSBO Business listserv.

And Lady Budgetdown received a rather unexpected mention.

His opening:

"With Lady Budgetdown and other social media transparency watchdogs picking up steam..."

Well........

Lady B certainly did not have Michigan School Business Office correspondence on today's bingo card.
�
But what followed was considerably more important than Lady B's name appearing in an email.

District business offices were encouraged to review the very things readers have been asking questions about:

• Are expenses coded to the correct function codes?

• Can substantial differences between budgets and actual spending be explained?

• Are millage and bond materials accurate and transparent?

• Does REP reporting accurately reflect what employees actually do?

• Are district transparency pages current?

Sound familiar, dearest reader? It should.

These are the same public records, staffing reports, budgets, audits and financial documents that ordinary taxpayers across Michigan have started reading for themselves.

�
Mr. Sawyer ended his message with an amended old saying:

"Arguing with an internet troll is like wrestling in the mud with a pig... sooner or later, you'll realize they both like it." 🐷

Lady B shall resist the temptation to determine precisely who was assigned the role of pig in this particular production.

Mostly.

Because underneath the humor is something considerably more important.

People asking questions can make a difference.

You do not need to be an accountant.

You do not need to sit on a school board.

You do not need a title after your name.

You can read a budget.

You can read an audit.

You can look at staffing data.

You can ask why one number doesn't match another.

And you can ask the people entrusted with public money to explain it.

That isn't trolling.

That is public accountability. And it doesn't apply only to schools.

Every public institution entrusted with taxpayer dollars should expect those taxpayers to ask where the money went, how it was spent, and whether the public records accurately tell that story.

If more people asking those questions causes public institutions to double-check their coding, update their transparency pages, verify their staffing reports and make sure their financial story can withstand public scrutiny...

Splendid.

Keep asking questions.

Lady B will keep reading the receipts.

And apparently, we shall keep an eye out for pigs. 🐷🪶

With receipts and respect. And possibly a pig

Bay City Public Schools

#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #KeepAskingQuestions #PublicAccountability #TaxpayerDollars #FollowTheMoney #TransparencyMatters #SchoolTransparency #SchoolFinance #PublicEducation #MichiganSchools #MichiganEducation #MSBO #BayCityPublicSchools #PublicRecords #CommunityOversight #ReceiptsMatter #EveryDollarMatters

Dearest reader,

Apparently, Lady B made an appearance at a Kalamazoo Public Schools parent information and feedback session this evening.

A reader in attendance tells me Superintendent Dr. Darrin Slade referenced information being shared online and indicated that something being said regarding administration and teacher staffing was incorrect.

Wonderful. Lady B has encountered this before.

When Novi Superintendent Dr. Benjamin Mainka publicly stated that Lady B's numbers were incorrect, I did something rather simple:

I asked which numbers were wrong.

I extend the same invitation to Dr. Slade.

Please identify the specific figure, calculation, or statement you believe is incorrect.

The staffing figures Lady B publishes come from publicly reported state data. If I have made an error, I will correct it publicly, prominently, and with the same audience that saw the original information.

But "something on the internet is wrong" doesn't tell parents very much.

Which number is wrong?

Teacher staffing?

Administrative staffing?

The comparison years?

The percentage change?

Something else?

Point me toward it, Dr. Slade.

The ledger is open.

With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown

Kalamazoo Public Schools

#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #KalamazooPublicSchools #KPS #Kalamazoo #MichiganSchools #PublicEducation #SchoolTransparency #EducationTransparency #SchoolAccountability #FollowTheNumbers #TheLedgerIsOpen #WhichNumber #TeachersFirst #EveryDollarMatters

Dearest reader,

Apparently, we have reached the next chapter.

Lady B has been informed by a source she considers credible that Mr. Killenbeck is "on the trail" trying to determine who is behind this page.

Which raises a rather simple question:

Why?

If Lady B has published a number that is wrong, correct the number.

If a document has been misread, show the document.

If context is missing, provide the context.

If a receipt is inaccurate, challenge the receipt.

But what, precisely, does the identity of the person holding the receipt have to do with what is printed on it?

Nothing.

For months, readers have been treated to increasingly imaginative theories about Lady B's identity.

Lady B has apparently been Asian.

Lady B has been a man.

Lady B has been a woman reportedly prohibited from contacting prosecutors.

Most recently, Lady B has become an AI bot.

At this rate, by Friday, Lady B will be three raccoons operating a laptop from an undisclosed location in Cambodia.

🦝🦝🦝

Meanwhile, the ledger remains exactly where it has always been.

The documents are still the documents.

The numbers are still the numbers.

And the questions are still the questions.

Lady B does not ask readers to believe something because of WHO published it.

She asks readers to OPEN THE RECEIPT and read it themselves.

So, respectfully, anyone wishing to spend their time discovering who Lady B is may certainly continue down that rabbit hole.

Lady B will continue down hers. Which includes records and facts.

One of those rabbit holes contains public records.

The other apparently contains three raccoons.

With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown

#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #FollowTheReceipts #PublicRecords #Transparency #Accountability #TheLedger #MichiganSchools #FollowTheMoney #DearestReader

Dearest reader,

The teachers of Kalamazoo Public Schools are asking their community to stand with them.

And Lady B went looking through the ledger. 🪶

For the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, Kalamazoo teachers have started the school year without a contract.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Three years.

Meanwhile, KPS administrators entered this school year with their contract already approved.

So Lady B took a look at the other side of the ledger.

📌 KPS's own 2025 compensation report contains 61 administrative and leadership employees on the report.

📌 Their combined reported compensation was approximately $13.68 MILLION.

📌 Superintendent Darrin Slade's base salary alone was $272,640.55.

📌 With other reported compensation and employer-paid benefits included, his total reported compensation was approximately $416,974.

Now, Lady B is not suggesting administrators shouldn't be fairly compensated.

That isn't the point.

The point is priorities.

Teachers are the people standing in front of our children every single day.

They teach them.

They encourage them.

They manage classrooms.

They answer parent emails.

They stay late.

They take work home.

And for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, Kalamazoo's teachers began the school year without a contract.

Administrators did not.

That seems like a question worth asking:

Why does Kalamazoo Public Schools keep reaching the beginning of the school year without having a contract in place for the people standing in front of its students every day?

Kalamazoo teachers are asking their community to show up.

📍 KPS BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

📅 Thursday, October 8

⏰ 7:00 PM

📍 KPS Administration Building

1220 Howard Street

Kalamazoo, MI 49008

If you are a KPS parent, taxpayer, educator, employee, or simply someone who believes the people in our classrooms deserve to be heard, perhaps Thursday night is a good night to listen.

Teachers are asking for support.

Lady B is happy to help make sure people know about it. 🪶

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #KalamazooPublicSchools #KPS #KalamazooTeachers #SupportTeachers #SupportEducators #TeachersDeserveAContract #PublicEducation #MichiganSchools #Kalamazoo #WithReceiptsAndRespect

Dearest reader,

Lady B has received an important lesson in fiscal responsibility from Hemlock Public School District.

Apparently, the first rule of exceptional financial stewardship is making certain everyone knows just how exceptional your financial stewardship is.

Preferably in an article written by your own communications department.

📌There are clean audits.

📌There is Moody's.

📌There is "strategic leadership."

📌There is "shared vision."

📌There is "rigorous scrutiny."

📌There is "fiscal discipline."

And heavens above, there is NAVY. We mustn't forget the navy.

Hemlock's Communications Specialist recently devoted an entire district article to fonts, spacing, typography, logos, and her unofficial appointment as "guardian of the navy."

Lady B is relieved.

For one frightening moment, I feared taxpayers might be left with an improperly stretched logo while borrowing tens of millions of dollars.

Crisis averted.�

🪶 Meanwhile, Lady B has been guarding something considerably less fashionable.

The ledger.

In 2022, Hemlock voters approved approximately $42 MILLION in bonding authority.

Afterward, the district told the community that, aside from its regular operating millage votes and the sinking fund renewal anticipated in 2030:

📌 "There is nothing else in the current forecast."

How delightfully reassuring.
�
Four years later...

It is 2026. Hemlock is asking voters for authorization to borrow another $17.75 MILLION.

Apparently, the forecast developed weather.

To its credit, Hemlock now acknowledges that the original expectation was that the next major facilities conversation would occur around 2029 or 2030.

📌 The district says circumstances changed.
📌 Enrollment increased.
📌 Programming expanded.
📌 Space needs developed.

And circumstances certainly can change. Ledgers, however, have the irritating habit of remembering what was said before they changed.

🪶 Then there is another little breadcrumb.

Much of the public discussion surrounding this proposal has focused on elementary space.

Yet when Lady B followed the proposed projects and the dollars, we found that the MAJORITY of the proposed borrowing is NOT simply going toward that elementary school issue.

Then there is enrollment.

Roughly 30% of Hemlock's students come from outside the district. That doesn't make those children any less deserving of an excellent education. But when resident taxpayers are being asked to assume millions more in long-term debt because the district says it needs additional space, it seems perfectly reasonable to ask:

📌 How much of that need is being driven by resident enrollment?
📌 And how much is being driven by schools of choice?

Pesky little details.

🪶 Then we arrive at Nurse Becky.

Hemlock certainly enjoys celebrating Nurse Becky. And perhaps she deserves every bit of that celebration.

But as Lady B previously learned from the records and explanation provided to us, the employment arrangement isn't quite as simple as a reader might assume from the district's presentation.

She isn't carried internally on Hemlock's payroll in the ordinary way one might expect.

Again, that doesn't diminish her work. It simply raises another question about how services are funded and presented to the public.

📌 Questions.
📌 Questions.
📌 Questions.

Terribly inconvenient things when everyone is busy admiring the navy.

And then Hemlock provided Lady B with perhaps her favorite sentence in the entire article:

"Public dollars should be subject to rigorous scrutiny."

Oh, Dearest Reader. You needn't ask Lady B twice.

A clean audit is certainly something a district should want. But a clean audit does NOT answer whether a proposed expenditure is necessary.

It doesn't tell taxpayers whether borrowing another $17.75 million four years after a $42 million authorization is the best decision.

It doesn't explain why something that wasn't in the forecast until around 2030 arrived four years early.

It doesn't tell us how much of the proposed borrowing actually addresses the elementary problem being emphasized.

And it doesn't answer how schools-of-choice enrollment factors into the need for additional space.

Those questions require something considerably less glamorous than a press release.

Receipts.

So by all means...

Protect the brand.

Guard the fonts.

Measure the spacing.

Preserve the sacred navy.

Lady B will guard the ledger.

Hemlock likes to say:

"PULL THE SLED."

Very well.

But before taxpayers are asked to pull another $17.75 MILLION onto it, perhaps they deserve to know exactly what's already on the sled, who put it there, where it's going, and why nobody saw the extra load coming four years ago.

After all...

Someone has to read the packing list.

With receipts and respect. 🪶

#LadyBudgetdown #HemlockPublicSchools #HemlockSchools #PullTheSled #FollowTheMoney #PublicDollars #TaxpayerTransparency #SchoolFinance #SchoolBonds #MichiganSchools #WithReceiptsAndRespect

COMSTOCK TEACHERS ARE FIGHTING FOR BETTER PAY.

Dearest reader,

A Comstock teacher reached out to Lady B asking me to shine a little light on what teachers say is happening at the bargaining table.

And there are a few breadcrumbs worth putting together.

Comstock teachers are currently fighting for better pay. Lady B has been told that the district does not want to offer teachers a salary increase.

I have NOT independently verified the current bargaining offer, so I am going to do what Lady B does best.

Ask questions.

Because there is some interesting context here.

Comstock's finances are tight. The district's final amended 2025-26 budget projects a $476,302 deficit and an ending General Fund balance of $1.98 million, or just 5.57% of expenditures. 25-26 Amendment and 26-27 Budget...

But the story doesn't end there.

For 2026-27, the district itself projects a $481,095 SURPLUS, bringing the projected ending fund balance back to $2.46 million, or 7.11%. 25-26 Amendment and 26-27 Budget...

Then there is health insurance.

Earlier this year, Comstock proposed moving teachers away from MESSA to a less expensive health insurance plan. Superintendent Jeff Thoenes publicly said the anticipated savings could reduce employees' insurance costs AND provide money for a wage increase.

Now teachers say they are fighting for that better pay.

So, Lady B has some questions.

If the district is projecting a surplus next year, what is being offered to teachers?

What happened to the proposed insurance savings that were supposed to help fund a wage increase?

And while administrators have received raises, where do classroom teachers fall in Comstock's financial priorities?

Lady B isn't sitting at the bargaining table, and I don't pretend to know everything happening behind those closed doors.

But when educators reach out and say they are fighting to be heard, sometimes the best thing Lady B can do is turn on the light.

So, Comstock Public Schools:

What are you offering your teachers?

The ledger is open.

🪶 With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown

Comstock Public Schools

#ComstockPublicSchools #ComstockTeachers #TeacherPay #MichiganTeachers #PublicEducation #SchoolFinance #Transparency #LadyBudgetdown

Dearest reader,

A reader sent Lady B a rather simple question today.

Their child has a trip to Hartley Outdoor Education Center this school year, and they wanted to know:

If Saginaw ISD is supported by taxpayer dollars, and Hartley is owned and operated by Saginaw ISD, why are families paying to send their children there?

Especially when Saginaw ISD is currently asking voters to renew a millage.

Fair question. So Lady B went looking.

🏕� FIRST, WHAT IS HARTLEY?

Hartley isn't a privately owned summer camp.

It is owned and operated by Saginaw ISD as an educational program serving students throughout Saginaw County.

In 2024, SISD says Hartley served:

🏕� 1,829 students through residential programming at 29 schools

🌲 847 additional students through day trips and summer camps

That's 2,676 students.

🧮 SO WHAT WOULD IT COST TO COVER THE STUDENTS?

Let's use $150 per student simply as an illustration.

If SISD covered $150 for every one of the 1,829 residential students:

$274,350.

If SISD covered $150 for ALL 2,676 students reported across residential programs, day trips and summer camps:

$401,400.

IMPORTANT:

Those are NOT Hartley's actual per-student charges.

Lady B has not located a current Hartley rate sheet, and Hartley says individual schools determine the final cost charged to families.

This is simply putting the potential scale into numbers we can understand.

💰 NOW LET'S LOOK AT SISD.

Saginaw ISD ended FY2025 with approximately:

$45.17 MILLION in governmental fund balances.

Before anyone starts typing...

No, that does NOT mean SISD has $45 million sitting around that it can spend however it wants.

Much of that money is restricted or assigned for specific purposes.

But approximately:

💰 $3.52 MILLION remained UNASSIGNED in SISD's General Fund.

Hartley also has its own foundation, which reported approximately:

💰 $1.15 MILLION in assets.

Meanwhile...

SISD Superintendent Jeffrey Collier's current salary is $370,000.

Lady B's review of SISD check registers also identified at least:

✈️ $160,106.41

in travel and travel-related expenditures across the records reviewed.

To be perfectly clear, that $160,106.41 is SISD travel spending Lady B identified. It is NOT all Jeffrey Collier's personal travel.

But Collier himself has documented travel to numerous destinations across the country and across the globe to places like London, France, the Panama Canal over the past several years.

📈 AND THEN THERE'S CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION.

Special Education "Central" spending increased from:

FY2023: $275,386

FY2025: $465,776

Increase:

+$190,390

+69.1%

IN TWO YEARS.

And when we zoom out further...

SISD reported:

2014–15: 19.0 central-administrator FTEs

2024–25: 44.4

That's:

+25.4 positions

+133.7%

🗳� AND YES, ABOUT THAT MILLAGE...

Saginaw ISD is asking voters to renew its Special Education millage.

That money is legally restricted to Special Education.

It cannot simply be redirected to Hartley.

Lady B isn't suggesting otherwise.

But I think the reader's larger question is still worth asking.

Taxpayers already support Saginaw ISD.

SISD owns Hartley.

SISD operates Hartley.

SISD describes Hartley as an educational program for children throughout Saginaw County.

Yet SISD's own Hartley information tells schools they can FUNDRAISE to "offset or eliminate" program costs for families.

So perhaps the question isn't:

"Can SISD charge for Hartley?"

Perhaps it's:

🧐 WHY DOES SISD CHOOSE TO?

And what would it actually cost SISD to make this taxpayer-supported educational program available to students in its constituent public school districts without families being charged to participate?

When we're talking about hundreds of millions in public dollars, multimillion-dollar fund balances, administrative growth, executive compensation, and six figures in travel expenses...

$274,350 suddenly provides some interesting perspective.

Perhaps that's a question worth asking before taxpayers are asked for another vote of confidence.

With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown 🪶

#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #SaginawISD #SaginawCounty #HartleyOutdoorEducationCenter #Hartley #PublicEducation #MichiganSchools #TaxpayerDollars #SchoolFunding #EducationFunding #FollowTheMoney #Transparency #Accountability #StudentsFirst #MichiganEducation

Dearest reader,

Sometimes the numbers in a contract tell one story.

Sometimes an actual paycheck tells another.

A FULL-TIME Kalamazoo Public Schools paraprofessional recently sent Lady B a copy of her paystub.

She has worked for KPS since 2015.

More than a decade serving students.

Her gross pay for this particular check was a little over $1,100.

And before anyone assumes health insurance premiums are eating up the paycheck, they aren't.

This employee DOES NOT take the district's health insurance.

She elects the cash-in-lieu option instead. Under the KPS support professionals contract, that benefit is $400 per month for full-time employees.

Even without a health insurance premium coming out of her check, approximately 35% of her gross earnings are going toward taxes, retirement-related deductions, union dues, and other deductions.

Her take-home pay?

A little over $700.

Now, let us add a little perspective.

There is something called ALICE.

Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

ALICE households earn more than the federal poverty level, but still do not earn enough to cover the basic costs of living.

Not vacations.

Not luxury cars.

Not elaborate dinners.

Basic necessities.

According to the Michigan ALICE Household Survival Budget:

1 ADULT
$29,580/year
$14.79/hour

1 ADULT + 1 SCHOOL-AGE CHILD
$42,648/year
$21.32/hour

1 ADULT + 1 INFANT REQUIRING CHILD CARE
$47,724/year
$23.86/hour

Now remember, this isn't someone who started working for Kalamazoo Public Schools last month.

She has been there since 2015.

She is a FULL-TIME paraprofessional.

A support professional working directly with students in a public school system that depends on people like her every single day.

After more than a decade with the district, this is what the paycheck looks like.

So perhaps the question isn't simply whether Kalamazoo Public Schools says it values its support professionals.

The better question is:

Does their compensation show it?

Because "valued" is a lovely word.

Lady B prefers numbers.

With receipts and respect,
Lady B 🪶

Kalamazoo Public Schools

#LadyBudgetdown #WithReceiptsAndRespect #KalamazooPublicSchools #KPS #Paraprofessionals #SupportProfessionals #SchoolEmployees #PublicEducation #MichiganSchools #ALICE #WorkingFamilies #FollowTheMoney

  DEAREST READERS... LADY B HAS A WEBSITE! 🎉

[LINK AT BOTTOM]

It is officially LIVE.

What started just TWO months ago with a spreadsheet, a few breadcrumbs, and Lady B wandering down entirely too many rabbit holes has somehow turned into an actual interactive resource. 😂

And tonight, we added something BIG:

🔎 THE STATEWIDE DISTRICT SEARCH

You can now search more than 500 Michigan public school districts and instantly pull up Lady B's Step 1, Step 2 & Step 2A financial and staffing comparisons, using the same methodology you've been seeing in the district workups.

No waiting for Lady B to get to your district in the queue. The baseline numbers are already there.

And that is only one part of the new website.

🍎 Teacher Wish Lists & DonorsChoose projects 

🗳� Participating School Board Candidates & questionnaires [searchable]

🏫 School Bonds & Millages [searchable]

🔎 District Search & Lady B workups [searchable]

🐇 Send Lady B a Breadcrumb 

📋 Submit a District Issue 

❤️ Share Something Good happening in your schools 

👑 Nominate an outstanding school employee

A quick note on the candidate section: candidates are included because THEY requested to participate and completed Lady B's questionnaire. It is not an endorsement list.

And this website is nowhere near finished.

More districts. More candidates. More teacher wish lists. More investigations. More receipts. More rabbit holes.

One small housekeeping note: Lady B will always keep the receipts available for everyone to read, but doing this does come with expenses. The server, website development, data work, forms, research tools and everything else behind the scenes cost money to keep running.

If you enjoy what Lady B is building and are in a position to help, please consider clicking the SUPPORT LADY B link on the website. There is absolutely no obligation. Reading, sharing, sending breadcrumbs and participating helps tremendously too.

Support Lady B: https://ko-fi.com/ladybudgetdown

Website: https://ladybudgetdown.com

Lady B started with a spreadsheet and a few breadcrumbs.

Look where those breadcrumbs have led us now. ❤️

Go explore. Search your district. Click around. And please remember, this entire thing is being built as we go, so expect it to keep growing.

With receipts and respect, 
Lady Budgetdown 🪶

@followers

#LadyBudgetdown #MichiganSchools #SchoolTransparency #PublicEducation #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect