Breckenridge - 10-YEAR Financial Comparison

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,

Lady Budgetdown has arrived in Breckenridge Community Schools, and this ledger required me to check the abacus twice.
Because this one is unusual.

Same ten-year comparison.

Same MDE Bulletin 1014 methodology.

Same inflation adjustment used across the series.

2014–15 to 2024–25.

First, the pupils.

Breckenridge went from 770.00 pupils to 631.66.

That's a loss of 138.34 pupils - 17.97%.

Nearly one out of every five pupils disappeared from the count over the decade.

But then Lady Budgetdown turned the page.

And there was an awful lot of green ink waiting for her. 👀

Per-pupil All Sources Revenue increased from $9,146 to $14,895.

That's +$5,749 per pupil, or +62.86%.

Against the 35.83% cumulative inflation benchmark, that's +27.03 percentage points above inflation.

Total Instruction per pupil:
$6,056 → $9,462
+$3,406 | +56.24%
+20.41 points vs. inflation

Instructional Support per pupil:
$524 → $908
+$384 | +73.28%
+37.45 points vs. inflation

Business & Administration per pupil:
$969 → $1,686
+$717 | +73.99%
+38.16 points vs. inflation

Operations & Maintenance per pupil:
$796 → $1,562
+$766 | +96.23%
+60.40 points vs. inflation

And then Lady Budgetdown arrived at the teachers.
Average teacher salary increased from $47,541 to $70,896.

That's:

+$23,355 | +49.13%

Compared with our 35.83% inflation benchmark:

+13.30 percentage points above inflation.

Well, well, well. 🧐

For those accustomed to seeing Lady Budgetdown arrive with a burgundy pen and a disappointed expression, Breckenridge has apparently decided to make things difficult.

Because every single financial measure in Step 1 increased faster than our inflation benchmark.

Every. Single. One.

Revenue.
Instruction.
Instructional support.
Business and administration.
Operations and maintenance.
And average teacher salary.

Meanwhile, pupil count declined 17.97%.

Now, that does not mean everything is wonderful.

It doesn't tell us whether staffing followed enrollment.

It doesn't tell us where positions were added or eliminated.

And it certainly doesn't tell us whether the additional dollars were distributed in the places taxpayers, parents and employees might expect.

That's why Lady Budgetdown has more than one step. 😉

But Step 1 is Step 1.

And the receipts say what the receipts say.

Breckenridge lost nearly 18% of its pupils, while every financial category Lady Budgetdown tracks increased faster than the cumulative inflation benchmark - including teacher salaries.

No gymnastics.

No moving the goalposts because the numbers happen to be green.

Just the ledger.

Now we turn the page and ask what happened to staffing while all of this was happening.

Fetch the spectacles. 🧐

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #BreckenridgeCommunitySchools #BreckenridgeMichigan #GratiotCounty #MichiganSchools #SchoolFinance #TeacherPay #SchoolSpending #PublicEducation #EducationTransparency #TaxpayerDollars #FollowTheMoney #FollowTheReceipts #TheLedger #WithReceiptsAndRespect