Birmingham - 10-YEAR Financial Comparison

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LADY BUDGETDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS

Birmingham Public Schools: A Decade in Dollars

Dearest Readers,

Numbers have a rather inconvenient habit.

They remember everything. 👀

And with Birmingham Public Schools asking voters to approve a $240 MILLION bond this November, Society might wish to examine what has happened to the district's finances over the last decade.

First, a rather important detail:

🎓 Enrollment fell 10.5%
8,208 students ➡️ 7,350 students

Yet over that same decade:

💰 Revenue from All Sources
$116.1M ➡️ $150.0M
📈 +29.2%

📚 Total Instruction
$71.1M ➡️ $94.9M
📈 +33.5%

👩�🏫 Instruction Salaries
$67.0M ➡️ $86.4M
📈 +28.9%

📖 Instruction Support
$15.9M ➡️ $21.4M
📈 +34.4%

🏢 Business & Administration
$12.9M ➡️ $15.2M
📈 +17.3%

🔧 Operations & Maintenance
$9.3M ➡️ $15.6M
📈 +66.7%

🍎 Average Teacher Salary
$75,846 ➡️ $92,607
📈 +22.1%

But Society knows that a dollar today is not the same as a dollar ten years ago.

Overall inflation during this period was approximately 35.8%.

After accounting for inflation:

💰 Revenue: −4.9% real
📚 Total Instruction: −1.7% real
👩�🏫 Instruction Salaries: −5.1% real
📖 Instruction Support: −1.1% real
🏢 Business & Administration: −13.6% real
🔧 Operations & Maintenance: +22.7% real
🍎 Average Teacher Salary: −10.1% real

And there, Dear Readers, lies perhaps the most interesting number of all.

While enrollment declined 10.5% and average teacher salaries failed to keep pace with inflation...

Operations & Maintenance spending climbed 66.7% — nearly twice the rate of inflation.

From $9.3 million to $15.6 million.

And now?

🗳� Birmingham Public Schools is asking voters this November to authorize a $240 MILLION bond.
That makes these numbers more than an interesting history lesson.

Before approving another $240 million in borrowing, taxpayers may reasonably wish to ask:

Where has the money gone over the last decade — and what exactly will another $240 million accomplish?

Budgets do not tell us how to vote.

But they certainly give us something to consider before we do.

And Lady Budgetdown believes Society deserves to see the receipts. 🪶

#LadyBudgetdown #TheSocietyPapers #FollowTheMoney #BirminghamPublicSchools #SchoolBond #MichiganSchools #EducationSpending #SchoolBudgets #TheReceipts #FactsNotRumors