Merrill Community Schools — 10-Year Financial Comparison

[Lady Budgetdown]

Dearest reader,

Sometimes a trip through the ledger begins with a district.

And sometimes it begins with a question.

Does being a small school district make the numbers easier?

Does having fewer students somehow guarantee a prettier ledger?

Well.

I happened to have an abacus nearby. 👀

So tonight I opened the books on Merrill Community Schools, a small Saginaw County district with just 458.73 pupils in 2024–25.

That is actually smaller than Rudyard Area Schools, which recently earned a Green Circle here.

And the ledger?

It told a very different story.

Over ten years:

🧮 Pupils
680.00 → 458.73
↓ 32.54%

💰 All-sources revenue per pupil
$9,163 → $16,798
↑ 83.32%
After inflation: +47.49%

📚 Instruction per pupil
$5,469 → $10,189
↑ 86.31%
After inflation: +50.48%

🧑�🏫 Instructional support per pupil
$871 → $807
↓ 7.35%
After inflation: −43.18%

💼 Business & administration per pupil
$1,345 → $2,427
↑ 80.45%
After inflation: +44.62%

🛠� Operations & maintenance per pupil
$793 → $1,936
↑ 144.14%
After inflation: +108.31%

And then there are the teachers.

🎓 Average teacher salary
$48,489 → $61,294
↑ 26.41%

Sounds like an increase.

Until the spectacles go on.

Cumulative CPI over the same period was approximately 35.83%.

That leaves average teacher salary growth approximately:

9.42% behind inflation.

Meanwhile, Merrill lost nearly one-third of its pupils.

Now, dearest reader, this is precisely why I don't grade districts according to their enrollment.

A district with 150 students gets the same ledger as a district with 15,000.

Small districts can produce excellent numbers.

Large districts can produce excellent numbers.

And both can produce numbers that deserve questions.

When the receipts deserve criticism, I will ask questions.

When the receipts deserve recognition, I will happily draw a great big green circle around them.

The size of the district doesn't determine the color of the ink.

The receipts do.

With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #MerrillCommunitySchools #SaginawCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #TeacherPay #PublicEducation #FollowTheReceipts #NumbersTellAStoryToo #WithReceiptsAndRespect