THE BUSINESS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION - DUES FOR 30 DISTRICTS

[Shadowninja]

DEAREST READER...
Well, that escalated quickly. 🐇🧾

This morning, a reader mentioned the amount school districts spend on association dues.

Lady Budgetdown had seen those reports hundreds of times while wandering through district transparency pages.

But I had never stopped and asked the obvious question:

What happens when we put a bunch of them together?

So I randomly selected 30 Michigan school districts, pulled the most recent District Paid Association Dues report available for each, and started adding.

And adding.

And adding.

The result?

💰 $894,010.81

That is the combined amount reported across JUST THESE 30 DISTRICTS.

And then the pattern became rather difficult to miss.

Among the most frequently appearing organizations:

🏛� Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB)
28 of 30 districts
Approximately $173,026.84

🎓 Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP)
27 of 30 districts
Approximately $63,320.00

📚 Michigan Elementary & Middle School Principals Association (MEMSPA)
26 of 30 districts
Approximately $43,323.50

👔 Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators (MASA)
26 of 30 districts
Approximately $36,903.15

🧮 Michigan School Business Officials (MSBO)
29 of 30 districts
Approximately $27,027.00

Those five organizations alone received approximately:
💰 $343,600.49

From 30 districts.

And that is where I want to be VERY clear.

This does not establish that these organizations are unnecessary.

It does not establish corruption.

And it certainly doesn't establish that every dollar spent on association membership is wasted.

What it DOES establish is something taxpayers rarely get to see:

One district's $5,000 membership doesn't look particularly remarkable.

Neither does another district's $7,000.

Or another district's $3,000.

But put the receipts beside one another, and suddenly the same organizations begin appearing again...

and again...

and again.

🐇 And then Lady Budgetdown noticed something else.

The reports themselves are remarkably inconsistent.

Some districts report primarily professional association dues.

Others include athletic conferences, chambers of commerce, accreditation organizations, purchasing programs, clubs, student organizations, professional memberships and other fees.

So even a report supposedly designed to tell taxpayers what districts spend on "association dues" does not necessarily mean the same thing from one district to another.

That matters.

It also means I am NOT going to take $894,010.81 from 30 districts, multiply it across Michigan's hundreds of districts and pretend I've calculated statewide spending.

That would make a wonderful headline.

It would also be lousy math.

What these 30 randomly selected districts gave us is something much more useful:

A PATTERN WORTH INVESTIGATING.

Who are these organizations?

What services do districts receive for their dues?

How are those dues calculated?

How much public money do these organizations collectively receive from Michigan school districts?

And perhaps most importantly...

Are the membership dues the END of the financial relationship, or merely the beginning?

Because apparently The Business of Public Education rabbit hole has produced its first set of receipts.

And we haven't even made it through breakfast yet. ☕🐇

With receipts and respect,

Lady Budgetdown

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