Lansing Schools - 10-year Financial Snapshot

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,
Well.
It appears the ledger knew precisely where it was sending us.
Earlier, Lady Budgetdown ranked Michigan's traditional public school districts by the actual increase in District/Central Administration FTE over the past decade.
Sitting at number four was Lansing Public School District.

So the spectacles went on, the ledger opened, and Lady Budgetdown began exactly where she always begins:

With the money.

And Lansing's first page is rather difficult to ignore.

From 2014–15 to 2024–25, Lansing's pupil count fell from 11,714.00 to 9,761.39.

That is 1,952.61 fewer pupils.

A decline of 16.67%.

One might reasonably expect a district serving substantially fewer students to look rather different financially ten years later.

It does.

Just perhaps not in the way one might expect.

All-sources revenue per pupil rose from $13,350 to $23,283.

That is an increase of 74.40%.

Total instruction per pupil rose from $7,304 to $10,369.

Up 41.96%.

Then Lady Budgetdown wandered a little farther down the ledger.

Instructional Support per pupil:
$2,045 → $3,898
Up 90.61%.

Business & Administration per pupil:
$1,417 → $2,911
Up 105.43%.

Operations & Maintenance per pupil:
$1,107 → $2,458
Up 122.04%.

And then we arrive at the teachers.
Average teacher salary:
$61,748 → $67,273
Up 8.95%.

For context, cumulative inflation over the same comparison period was approximately 35.83%.

So while Business & Administration per pupil increased 105.43%, and Operations & Maintenance per pupil increased 122.04%, average teacher salary increased 8.95%.

That does not tell Lady Budgetdown why.

And it certainly does not establish that any expenditure was improper or unnecessary.

Step One is not where Lady Budgetdown hands down verdicts.

It is where she circles numbers in the ledger.

And there are several numbers on this particular page deserving a rather large circle.

There is also an interesting breadcrumb sitting beside them.

Remember how Lansing landed on the desk in the first place?

Over this same ten-year period, NCES staffing records show Lansing's District/Central Administration increasing from 19.95 to 41.01 FTE.

An increase of 105.6%.

Meanwhile, Bulletin 1014 shows Business & Administration spending per pupil increasing 105.43%.

Those are two different datasets measuring two different things.

Lady Budgetdown will not pretend that one proves the other.

But when two independent sets of public records begin pointing toward the same portion of the ledger, that is generally a rather good place to turn the page.

So that is precisely what we shall do.

Step Two:

Let us count the chairs. 👓

📚 Source: Michigan Department of Education, Bulletin 1014 — Financial Information of Michigan School Districts, 2014–15 and 2024–25. Inflation comparison uses cumulative CPI of 35.83%.

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