Lansing Schools - STEP 4: Following the Checks

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,

Step Four has arrived, and Lady Budgetdown has moved from counting chairs to following the checks. 🪶

Lansing Public School District's FY 2025–26 accounts payable register contains quite the stack of receipts.

Among the largest outside vendors:

💰 The Christman Company — $22.01 million
💰 ABM Industry Groups — $14.01 million
💰 Laux Construction — $7.56 million
💰 SodexoMagic — $7.25 million
💰 Dean Transportation — $6.02 million

These are net payments, meaning voids and reversals in the register were accounted for rather than simply adding every positive entry.

Then Lady Budgetdown wandered over to the legal ledger. ⚖️

Three firms alone received:

Thrun Law Firm — $141,012
Clark Hill — $53,580
Foster Swift — $28,926

That brings payments to those three firms to $223,518.

Now, a large check does not automatically mean an unnecessary check.

Construction companies construct. Transportation companies transport. Lawyers lawyer. And apparently invoices multiply when nobody is looking.

The numbers do not tell us whether the spending was justified, necessary or wise.

They tell us where to look.

And that is precisely what Step Four is for.

Lady Budgetdown does not begin with a conclusion and hunt for receipts to support it.

The number tells us where to look.

The receipts tell us what happened. 🪶

📚 Source: Lansing School District FY 2025–26 Accounts Payable Check Register

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