$15,444 per pupil: Michigan school districts’ General Fund spending in 2024–25, district by district

General Fund spending per pupil in 507 Michigan school districts, 2024–25: median $15,444, range $12,016 to $66,246. Every figure from MDE public records, with what the figure includes and leaves out.

Half of the 507 Michigan school districts that run both elementary and high school grades recorded General Fund spending of more than $15,444 per pupil for 2024–25, and half recorded less. That middle figure, the median, comes from the Bulletin 1014 expenditure report published by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). It is the most recent year DistrictFacts publishes for the state.

The lowest figure among those districts is $12,016 per pupil, at Marysville Public Schools (2,655 students enrolled, 2024–25). The highest is $66,246, at Beaver Island Community School (50 students enrolled, 2024–25), about 5.5 times the lowest. The middle half of districts fall between $14,430 and $16,866.

General Fund spending per pupil, 2024–25: the 5 lowest and the 5 highest of 507 Michigan districts

Marysville Public Schools
$12,016
Iron Mountain Public Schools
$12,204
Dundee Community Schools
$12,417
Hudson Area Schools
$12,433
Mattawan Consolidated School
$12,621
Whitefish Township Schools
$56,756
DeTour Area Schools
$57,401
Mackinac Island Public Schools
$58,246
Burt Township School District
$59,320
Beaver Island Community School
$66,246

10 of 507 districts shown: the 5 lowest and the 5 highest. Bars start at zero and the line marks the median of all 507, $15,444. Each bar links to the district’s page.

Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Bulletin 1014 expenditure report, 2024–25

The largest district

Detroit Public Schools Community District is the largest Michigan system reporting this figure, with 48,117 students enrolled (2024–25). Its figure is $23,088 per pupil for 2024–25, 49% above the $15,444 median of the 507 districts compared here. The DistrictFacts homepage compares the same figure with a wider group: all 814 Michigan systems reporting it for the year, including the kinds of district left out here. That median is $15,191, and Detroit Public Schools Community District is 52% above it.

What “General Fund spending per pupil” means in Michigan

In Michigan the figure is total General Fund expenditures per pupil from MDE’s Bulletin 1014. It covers every General Fund function, including capital outlay, debt service, community services and transfers, and MDE divides by the district’s fall pupil count: kindergarten through grade 12, plus prorated shared-time and adult education participants. Bulletin 1014 covers the General Fund only, so spending from a district’s other funds is not in the figure.

Each state defines this figure differently: what spending is counted, and which count of students it is divided by. The Michigan figure should not be set beside another state’s, and DistrictFacts does not rank states on it.

Which districts are counted

DistrictFacts publishes pages for 822 Michigan districts and other local education agencies. 814 of them report this figure for 2024–25. The median and the range above cover 507: regular school districts whose schools span both elementary and high school grades. The other 307 are left out so that different kinds of district are not mixed in one median:

The remaining 8 have a figure only for an earlier year. A missing or withheld figure is not counted as zero; it is left out of the median.

What this does not tell you

A per-pupil figure does not show whether money was spent well, and it is not a measure of school quality. Districts differ in the students they serve, the services they must provide and their size. In a district with few students, a small change in spending or in the pupil count moves the figure a long way. This is one year of data and it says nothing about the trend. A useful question to ask a district is what is included in its figure and how it has changed over time; each district page linked here shows the detail and the source file.

This report was generated from public records by the DistrictFacts Data Desk. Every figure in it is read from the Bulletin 1014 expenditure report of the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), as published on the district pages; none was typed by hand. The method is described on the DistrictFacts methodology page, and a correction can be requested from this story.

Sources

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