BEECHER: STEP 4: The Check Register

[Shadowninja]

STEP 4: THE CHECK REGISTER

Well, Beecher gave Lady Budgetdown 25 pages of receipts.

So naturally, I read them. 👑

Beecher Community School District's 2024–25 AP check register covers July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

After excluding payroll, benefits, retirement and utilities from the vendor ranking, the Top 5 were:

Barton Malow Company — $2,655,137.14
EDUStaff Sub Services — $788,905.75
A & J Janitorial — $518,751.54
SodexoMagic — $492,611.68
ProCare Therapy — $425,243.20

Important context: Barton Malow's payments include major ESSER III construction expenditures. This isn't $2.65 million in ordinary administrative spending.

But a few other receipts caught my eye. 👀

⚖️ Legal services totaled $29,020.05.
🧾 Plante Moran received $211,058.74 in payments described as professional services.

📍 And one reimbursement to Jennifer Burke for $2,370.67 is described in the register simply as:

"MILEAGE SPED RETREAT BAYCITY." 

The register doesn't tell us what expenses were included in that reimbursement, so I'm not going to guess.

I also found superintendent-related travel and reimbursements in the register. Nothing enormous, but they're in the ledger and worth noting.

And that $211,058.74 to Plante Moran?

I'm putting a particularly large 🪶 next to that one.

Remember our earlier breadcrumb: Business & Administration spending per pupil increased 316.37%, while administrator FTE decreased 28.6%.

The check register does NOT tell us which of these payments were coded to that expenditure function, so I'm not connecting dots that the records haven't connected yet.

That's what Step 5 is for. 👀

With receipts & respect. 👑

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