ST. CHARLES: 10-YEAR Staffing & Enrollment Comparison

[Shadowninja]

📜 LADY BUDGETDOWN: ST. CHARLES: FEWER STUDENTS, BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO STAFFING?

We've followed the money through St. Charles. Now let's follow the people. 🔎

From 2014–15 to 2024–25, St. Charles Community Schools' student headcount fell from:

981 → 703

That's 278 fewer students, a 28.3% decline.

So did staffing decline at roughly the same rate?

Not exactly.

👥 STAFF HEADCOUNT

Over the same period, total staff headcount went from:

208 → 225
+17 employees (+8.2%)

Within that total:

Administrators: 7 → 9 (+28.6%)
Teachers: 50 → 56 (+12.0%)
Day-to-Day Substitute Teachers: 47 → 44 (−6.4%)
Paraprofessionals/Aides: 27 → 21 (−22.2%)
Day-to-Day Substitute Paras/Aides: 8 → 0 (−100%)
Non-Instructional: 69 → 95 (+37.7%)

But as we've learned in these district comparisons, headcount doesn't tell the whole story.

A person can appear in the headcount without representing one full-time position.

So we also need to look at FTE, Full-Time Equivalent.

📊 STAFF FTE

Total staff FTE went from:
112.77 → 111.63
−1.14 FTE (−1.0%)

In other words, while student headcount declined 28.3%, St. Charles' overall staffing level measured by FTE was essentially flat.

But the composition of that workforce changed.

Administrator FTE:
6.84 → 8.20 (+19.9%)

Teacher FTE:
49.90 → 46.30 (−7.2%)

Paraprofessional/Aide FTE:
19.96 → 20.04 (+0.4%)

Non-Instructional FTE:
36.07 → 37.09 (+2.8%)

📜 THE TAKEAWAY

This is another good example of why Lady Budgetdown looks at both headcount AND FTE.

If we looked only at headcount, we'd say staffing increased 8.2%.

If we looked only at FTE, we'd say staffing declined 1.0%.

Both are true.

What the two measures together show is that St. Charles served 28.3% fewer students in 2024–25 than in 2014–15 while maintaining approximately the same overall FTE workforce.

And within that workforce, the mix changed:

Administrator FTE increased 19.9%.

Teacher FTE declined 7.2%.

That doesn't tell us why those changes occurred, and we're not going to invent an explanation the data doesn't provide.

But it does give us another piece of the St. Charles financial picture.

Fewer students. Approximately the same overall FTE staffing. A different mix of positions.

And another page in the ledger. 🪶

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #StCharlesSchools #SaginawCounty #SchoolStaffing #EducationTransparency #PublicRecords #FollowTheMoney