Ashley Community Schools - STEP 4: Financial Reports

[Shadowninja]

Dearsest reader, Lady Budgetdown has reached Step Four in Ashley Community Schools, and this is where we stop counting positions and start following the actual dollars.

Ashley spent $3,680,631 from its General Fund in 2024-25.

Of that:

🪶 56.27% went to Instruction.

🪶 72.66% of the entire General Fund went to personnel expenses.

🪶 General Administration cost $224,264.

🪶 School Administration cost another $415,846.

Put those last two together and Ashley spent $640,110 on General + School Administration, 17.39% of the entire General Fund.

For a district reporting 192.75 pupils, that's roughly $3,321 per pupil.

And remember what the earlier pages of this ledger showed: over the same ten-year window, Ashley's pupil count fell 28.1%.

Now, before anyone starts warming up the outrage machine, these reports do not tell us that administrative spending was unnecessary. They also don't tell us precisely why it reached this level.

They tell us where the dollars were reported.

And when nearly 17.4 cents of every General Fund dollar lands in General and School Administration while the district has fewer than 200 pupils, Her Ladyship is going to circle it in burgundy ink and ask the obvious question:

Where did those dollars go, and what was driving the cost?

That's not an accusation.

That's what financial transparency is supposed to make possible. 👀🪶

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #AshleyCommunitySchools #GratiotCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect