Lamphere Schools: A Decade in Dollars

[Shadowninja]

**LADY BUDGETDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS**

### **Lamphere Schools: A Decade in Dollars**

Dearest Readers,

With **Lamphere Schools asking voters to approve a bond this November**, Lady Budgetdown thought it only proper to open the ledger and see what has happened to the district's finances over the last decade.

And the ledger has quite a story to tell. 👀

🎓 **ENROLLMENT**
2,746 ➡️ 2,426
📉 **DOWN 11.7%**

That's approximately **320 fewer students**.

But while the number of students declined, the dollars certainly did not.

💰 **Revenue from All Sources**
$30.33M ➡️ $46.08M
📈 **+51.9%**

📚 **Total Instruction**
$20.28M ➡️ $26.12M
📈 **+28.8%**

👩�🏫 **Instruction Salaries**
$19.24M ➡️ $22.64M
📈 **+17.7%**

📖 **Instruction Support**
$3.00M ➡️ $7.64M
📈 **+154.8%**

🏢 **Business & Administration**
$3.84M ➡️ $4.52M
📈 **+17.7%**

🔧 **Operations & Maintenance**
$3.04M ➡️ $4.80M
📈 **+57.9%**

🍎 **Average Teacher Salary**
$68,495 ➡️ $77,939
📈 **+13.8%**

But Society must account for inflation.

Over this period, inflation was approximately **35.8%**.

After adjusting for inflation:

💰 Revenue: **+11.9% real**
📚 Total Instruction: **−5.1% real**
👩�🏫 Instruction Salaries: **−13.3% real**
📖 Instruction Support: **+87.6% real**
🏢 Business & Administration: **−13.3% real**
🔧 Operations & Maintenance: **+16.3% real**
🍎 Average Teacher Salary: **−16.2% real**

And there, Dear Readers, is where the ledger becomes particularly interesting.

Over ten years:

**Enrollment fell 11.7%.**

Yet...

**Total revenue increased 51.9%.**

**Operations & Maintenance increased 57.9%.**

And **Instruction Support increased an extraordinary 154.8% — from roughly $3 million to $7.64 million.**

Meanwhile, the average teacher salary increased just **13.8%**, well below inflation.

And now?

🗳� **Lamphere Schools is asking voters to approve a bond this November.**

Which makes examining the last decade more than an exercise in history.

Before taxpayers authorize additional borrowing, they may reasonably ask:

**Where have the additional dollars gone?**

**Why have some areas increased dramatically while enrollment declined?**

**And what specifically will this new bond accomplish?**

Lady Budgetdown does not tell Society how to vote.

She simply believes that when taxpayers are asked for more...

**they deserve to see the receipts first.** 🪶

*Source: Michigan Department of Education Bulletin 1014, 2014–15 and 2024–25. Financial totals calculated from MDE-reported per-pupil figures multiplied by reported pupil FTE.*

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