Lady B's Mission

Lady Budgetdown exists to make Michigan public school finances easier for ordinary taxpayers, parents, educators and community members to understand. The goal is simple: follow the public records, show the numbers clearly and ask the questions those numbers raise.

Receipts before rhetoric.

Lady B works from budgets, audits, contracts, compensation reports, staffing records, Treasury filings, public records and other source documents. A breadcrumb may begin with a reader, but the work does not stop there. The records have to tell the story.

Context matters.

A large number by itself is not always meaningful. Whenever possible, Lady B compares spending over time, enrollment changes, staffing, compensation, borrowing and other factors so readers can see what changed and decide for themselves what it means.

Public schools belong to the public.

Transparency should not depend on whether someone agrees with a district, a board, an administrator or Lady B. Taxpayers deserve access to the records behind public decisions, and educators deserve to have their experiences heard without the numbers being ignored.