Plainwell Community Schools ledger takes us from dollars to people

[Shadowninja]

Dearest reader,

Step 2 of the Plainwell Community Schools ledger takes us from dollars to people. And this is where the decade starts to get interesting.

From 2014–15 to 2024–25, Plainwell's pupil count declined from 2,712 to 2,437 - down 10.14%.

Teacher staffing moved in the same direction, although not quite as sharply.

Teacher FTE declined from 131.07 to 124.55 - down 4.97%.

Instructional aides remained relatively steady, moving from 28.50 to 27.91 FTE - down 2.07%.

But other areas moved very differently.

Student Support increased from 4.50 to 28.07 FTE.

That's an increase of 23.57 FTE - or 523.78%.

Other Support increased from 38.01 to 63.10 FTE - up 66.01%.

Then I checked administrative staffing separately using NCES data.

District/LEA administrators increased from 6.51 to 8.00 FTE - up 22.89%.

School administrators increased from 6.50 to 10.75 FTE - up 65.38%.

Combined, total administrative FTE increased from 13.01 to 18.75 - up 44.12%.

And across all positions measured by NCES, total staff increased from 264.09 to 350.17 FTE - up 32.59%.

So put the decade together:

Pupils: -10.14%
Teachers: -4.97%
Student Support: +523.78%
Other Support: +66.01%
Total Administrators: +44.12%
Total Staff: +32.59%

Now, a very important reminder:

FTE means Full-Time Equivalent. These numbers measure staffing workload, not necessarily the number of individual employees.

And none of these numbers, by themselves, tell us whether an increase was good, bad, necessary or unnecessary.

They tell us something much simpler:

Plainwell Community Schools is staffed very differently today than it was a decade ago.

Enrollment declined.

Teacher FTE declined slightly.

But student support, other support, administrative staffing and total staffing all increased.

Why?

That's exactly why we keep opening the ledger.

On to the next step.

Sources:
Michigan Department of Education — Michigan REP Staffing FTE files, 2014–15 and 2024–25
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) — Common Core of Data Staff Files, 2014–15 and 2024–25
Michigan Department of Education — Bulletin 1014, 2014–15 and 2024–25

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