COMSTOCK PUBLIC SCHOOLS: If the money is that tight . . .

[Shadowninja]

 DEAREST COMSTOCK... LADY B HAS QUESTIONS.

A Comstock teacher recently reached out to Lady B.

She described spending freezes. Hiring freezes. Building substitutes being eliminated. Classroom budgets being cut.

She said teachers fought until May 2026 for a raise — and now, she says, they are being offered 0%.

She also said employees were told the district's financial problems involved a major accounting error.

So naturally...

Lady B opened the ledger.

And, dearest readers, there are some questions that need answering.

📜 FIRST: HOW DO YOU MISS BY NEARLY $1 MILLION?

Comstock's FINAL amended 2024–25 budget projected a General Fund ending balance of approximately:

$3.419 MILLION

The audited financial statements later showed the actual ending balance was:

$2.459 MILLION

🚨 DIFFERENCE: APPROXIMATELY $959,000.

But that isn't all.

The final amended budget projected Comstock would finish the year with a:

$149,135 SURPLUS

Instead, Comstock actually finished with an:

$810,223 DEFICIT

That is quite a swing.

And this wasn't Lady B comparing the original budget from a year earlier to the final numbers.

This was the FINAL amended budget near the end of the fiscal year.

So Lady B has a rather obvious question:

HOW DOES A FINAL BUDGET MISS THE ACTUAL YEAR-END RESULT BY NEARLY $1 MILLION?

And that miss didn't simply disappear.

The following year's budget was built using the higher projected fund balance.

Comstock therefore entered 2025–26 with substantially less money than its budget had anticipated.

The amended 2025–26 budget now projects ANOTHER:

🚨 $441,783 DEFICIT

with the General Fund balance projected to fall to approximately:

$2.017 MILLION

or just:

5.76% OF EXPENDITURES.

Now perhaps we are beginning to understand the spending freezes.

💰 NOW FOR THE PART COMSTOCK TEACHERS MAY FIND PARTICULARLY INTERESTING.

While all of this was happening...

ADMINISTRATORS WERE GETTING RAISES.

Lady B found Comstock's own superintendent compensation proposal.

It says:

"5% raise (all admins in 24-25)"

And then:

"3% raise (all admins in 25-26, 26-27, and 27-28)"

There are also longevity percentages.

For the superintendent specifically, the district's proposal showed compensation increasing from:

2023–24:
$169,070

2024–25:
$179,298.74
+6.05%

2025–26:
$186,524.47
+4.03%

2026–27:
$194,041.41
+4.03%

2027–28:
$201,861.28
+4.03%

And Lady B didn't stop at the proposal.

The district's actual 2024–25 compensation disclosure shows:

Base Salary: $161,385

Longevity: $1,613.85

Merit: $6,519.56

Board-Paid Annuity: $16,299.89

Mileage: $852

Cell Phone: $1,140

TOTAL PAY:

🚨 $187,810.30

Add benefits and the superintendent's total compensation reaches:

🚨 $264,333.40

🪶 SO LADY B HAS ANOTHER RATHER SIMPLE QUESTION.

If Comstock's financial situation is serious enough that classrooms are being squeezed...

If spending and hiring are being frozen...

If teachers are being asked to find savings...

WHY WEREN'T ADMINISTRATORS ASKED TO SACRIFICE FIRST?

A Comstock teacher reports that educators are currently being offered:

0%.

Lady B has NOT independently verified that number yet.

So consider this an open invitation to Comstock Public Schools to correct the record if that figure is inaccurate.

What Lady B CAN verify is that the district has proposed moving teachers away from MESSA to a less expensive health insurance plan, with those savings then being available for teacher wages.

So essentially:

TEACHERS, HELP FIND THE MONEY FOR YOUR OWN RAISES.

Meanwhile...

Administrative raises had already been built into the compensation structure.

Interesting.

⚖️ AND THEN THERE ARE THE LEGAL BILLS.

Lady B reviewed Comstock's July 2024 through June 2025 accounts-payable registers.

Payments to Thrun Law Firm totaled approximately:

🚨 $97,930

One February 2025 payment alone included approximately:

$10,918.50

identified as:

"EMPLOYEE-RELATED LEGAL SERVICES."

Perhaps there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Lady B would simply like to know what taxpayers received for nearly $98,000 in legal services during that year — particularly the employee-related portion.

Receipts, after all, work both ways.

📑 AND WHERE IS THE 2026–27 BUDGET?

Michigan requires school districts to post their annual operating budget online within 15 days of adoption, along with subsequent revisions.

Lady B looked.

And looked.

The district's transparency page provides the older budget materials Lady B used for this review.

But Lady B could not locate the:

2026–27 OPERATING BUDGET.

It is October.

If Comstock has posted it somewhere Lady B missed, please send the breadcrumb.

Lady B will gladly update the post.

If it isn't posted?

WHY NOT?

🧾 AND ONE MORE RECEIPT WHILE WE HAVE THE LEDGER OPEN.

Comstock's 2025 Single Audit contains a federal grant finding involving a:

$2,952 TITLE I REGIONAL ASSISTANCE GRANT EXPENDITURE

charged to an ineligible building.

The auditor classified the finding as:

"SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY"

and

"MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND REGULATIONS."

No.

Lady B is NOT suggesting that $2,952 created Comstock's financial problems.

It obviously didn't.

But when employees are being told money is tight...

Details matter.

Every one of them.

🪶 SO LET'S PUT THE QUESTIONS IN THE LEDGER.

How did Comstock's final amended budget miss the audited General Fund result by approximately $959,000?

Was THIS the "accounting error" employees say they were told about?

Who discovered it?

When was it discovered?

Why were administrative raises built into compensation while teachers and classrooms are now being asked to absorb cuts and concessions?

What accounts for nearly $98,000 in legal expenses, including employee-related legal services?

And...

WHERE IS THE 2026–27 BUDGET?

Lady B isn't alleging a conspiracy.

She doesn't need to.

THE NUMBERS ALREADY ASK PLENTY OF QUESTIONS ON THEIR OWN.

If you work for Comstock and have bargaining documents, emails, budget communications, Board materials, or other breadcrumbs that help answer these questions...

Lady B's inbox is open.

Confidentiality respected.

As always.

With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown 🪶

#LadyBudgetdown #ComstockPublicSchools #Comstock #MichiganSchools #TeacherPay #SchoolFinance #Transparency #Accountability #FollowTheMoney