Trenton Public Schools - Where else did the money go?

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,

We have looked at Trenton Public Schools' finances. We have looked at staffing. We have looked at compensation.

Now Lady Budgetdown went digging through the 2024–25 check register.

And this time, I was looking for a few very specific breadcrumbs: legal, consulting, advertising, communications and travel.

Here is what the register showed:

⚖️ Legal — $53,405.42

📋 Consulting — $39,315.42

That consulting figure is specifically the spending the register identifies as "Consulting Sinking Fund" for Communications by Design. The register repeatedly uses that exact description.

📣 Advertising — $14,570.00

📰 Communications & Publications — $1,681.00

Together, those four categories total:

💰 $108,971.84

But there was another trail in the register.

✈️ Employee & Board travel-related expenses — $67,469.36

And I want to be particularly clear about that number.

Student and athletic travel are NOT included.

I also did not simply grab every expenditure labeled "professional development" and call it travel. If the register didn't give me enough to reasonably identify an expenditure as employee or Board travel-related, I left it out.

That means this is intentionally the more conservative number, not the bigger one.

Because Lady Budgetdown isn't interested in making a number as large as possible.

I am interested in making it defensible.

One more bit of context: the majority of the mileage included in the travel figure was connected to employee services such as hearing-impaired, audiology/speech and special education—not central administration.

And that matters.

The point of looking at a check register isn't to declare every expenditure good or bad. A school district has legal bills. Employees travel. Professional development happens. Advertising and consultants can serve legitimate purposes.

The question is much simpler:

Where did the money go?

So we follow the ledger.

And we let the receipts answer. 🪶

Source: Trenton Public Schools, 2024–25 Check Register.

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #TrentonPublicSchools #TrentonSchools #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #PublicEducation #SchoolSpending #FollowTheMoney #TaxpayerDollars #WithReceiptsAndRespect