STCS - OPERATIONS VS ADMINISTRATION

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,

Sometimes the ledger does not give Lady Budgetdown an answer. Sometimes it gives her a question.

And this one is rather difficult to ignore.

Saginaw Township Public Schools has repeatedly told this community that its buildings have significant infrastructure needs. Some needs, according to the district itself, have been "deferred for years."

The district has also said relying on the Sinking Fund alone could take more than 50 years to address all of the necessary repairs and upgrades.

So Lady Budgetdown went back to the audited financial statements. And something caught my spectacles.

From 2021–22 to 2024–25:

Operations & Maintenance
$4.007 million → $4.253 million
Increase: $246,162
+6.1%

Meanwhile, General Administration, School Administration, Business Services and Central Support combined:

$6.054 million → $7.574 million
Increase: $1.520 million
+25.1%

That alone deserves a look.

But then came 2024–25.

Saginaw Township Community School's final General Fund budget provided:

Operations & Maintenance:
$5,553,175
Actual spending:
$4,253,310

Difference:

$1,299,865 UNDER budget.

In other words, Saginaw Township Community Schools spent about 76.6% of what it had ultimately budgeted for Operations & Maintenance.

Now look at those four administrative/support categories.

Final budget:
$7,669,439

Actual spending:
$7,574,052

Difference:
$95,387 under budget.

About 98.8% of the final budget was spent.

And before anyone reaches for the keyboard, there is another receipt that belongs on the table.

Saginaw Township Community Schools absolutely DID spend additional money on facilities outside General Fund Operations & Maintenance.

The district spent approximately $2.357 million through its Sinking Fund on facilities acquisition in 2024–25, and money also moved through its Capital Improvement Fund.

Those dollars count.

Receipts aren't very useful if we only keep the convenient ones.

But acknowledging those expenditures does not make the General Fund spending trend disappear.

Administration/support spending grew approximately 25.1%.
Operations & Maintenance grew approximately 6.1%.

And in the latest completed audit, nearly $1.3 million that STCS had budgeted for Operations & Maintenance was NOT spent in that category.

So Lady Budgetdown has a question.

If Saginaw Township Community School's facility needs are as extensive as the district has repeatedly told this community, and some of those needs have been deferred for years, why has Operations & Maintenance spending grown so much more slowly than administrative/support spending?

And why, in 2024–25, did nearly $1.3 million of the district's final Operations & Maintenance budget go unspent?

There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Projects can be delayed.

Positions can remain vacant.

Utility costs can change.

Work can be paid from other funds.

Budgets are estimates, not mandates to spend every dollar.

But the audit tells us what happened.

It does not tell us why.

And when taxpayers have repeatedly been asked to borrow tens of millions of dollars to address the condition of these buildings, I think "why?" is a perfectly reasonable question to ask.

Lady Budgetdown isn't answering it for you.

I am simply opening the ledger.

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #STCS #SaginawTownship #SchoolFinance #SchoolBudget #PublicSchools #TaxpayerTransparency #GovernmentSpending #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect