BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS: PERSONNEL & OPERATING EXPENDITURES: 2021–22 → 2024–25

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📜 LADY BUDGETDOWN | BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS
PERSONNEL & OPERATING EXPENDITURES: 2021–22 → 2024–25

Another page of Birmingham Public Schools' ledger is complete.

For this review, Lady Budgetdown compared the district's General Fund Personnel and Operating Expenditure reports for 2021–22 and 2024–25.

And as always, the numbers get to tell their own story.

💰 PERSONNEL EXPENDITURES

2021–22: $115.34 million - 83.92% of General Fund expenditures
2024–25: $126.47 million - 83.11%

That is an increase of approximately $11.12 million, or 9.6%.

Breaking down the major components:

• Salaries/Wages: $68.17M → $75.38M (+10.6%)
• Employee Insurance: $13.15M → $13.46M (+2.4%)
• FICA/Retirement/Unemployment/WC: $34.02M → $37.22M (+9.4%)

Despite the dollar increase, personnel actually accounted for a slightly smaller share of General Fund expenditures in 2024–25 than it did three years earlier: 83.92% → 83.11%.

📚 WHERE DID OPERATING SPENDING CHANGE?

Total current operating expenditures increased from approximately $133.79 million to $151.55 million, an increase of $17.76 million, or 13.3%.

The largest dollar increase was in Instruction:
$83.58M → $94.91M
+$11.33M | +13.6%

Pupil Support also increased substantially:
$9.95M → $12.90M
+$2.95M | +29.7%

Operations & Maintenance:
$12.61M → $15.56M
+$2.94M | +23.3%

Meanwhile, the administrative categories were comparatively restrained:
• General Administration: +$67,358 (+4.6%)
• School Administration: −$25,279 (−0.3%)

Instructional Staff Support declined slightly by approximately $54,000, while Transportation was essentially flat.

🪶 WHAT DOES THE LEDGER SAY?

Birmingham Public Schools spent considerably more in 2024–25 than it did in 2021–22.

But where that increase occurred matters.

Of the approximately $17.76 million increase in current operating expenditures, about $11.33 million was in Instruction alone. Pupil Support and Operations & Maintenance accounted for another approximately $5.89 million in combined growth.

At the same time, General and School Administration combined changed very little.

That doesn't make every expenditure good or bad. It doesn't tell us whether every dollar was spent effectively. Those are different questions.

It simply tells us where the spending changed. And that is the purpose of opening the ledger.

Sources: Birmingham Public Schools / Munetrix Budget Transparency Reports - General Fund Personnel Expenditures and Operating Expenditures, FY 2021–22 and FY 2024–25; Michigan Financial Information Database (FID).

Note: Personnel comparisons should be viewed in context because districts may outsource certain services, causing those costs to appear as purchased services rather than direct salary and benefit expenditures.

With receipts and respect. 🪶