(The Center Square) – The city of Flint’s public schools have been the biggest benefactor in Michigan from the federal pandemic funding.
The district received $49,996 per pupil in federal pandemic funding and that has allowed it to increase employee pay on average by 35% from 2019 to 2022. By comparison, Goodrich Area School District is within the same county as Flint, but that district received $1,662 per pupil in federal pandemic money.
The Flint district received so much federal aid primarily because 96% of its students are “economically disadvantaged,” meaning they receive some form of government aid.
The Flint’s district federal funding went from $13.6 million in the pre-pandemic 2019 to a combined $96.3 million over the next three years.
The infusion of federal money has made Flint public schools one of the most well-funded districts in the state in one of the poorest cities in Michigan. The median household income in Flint was $32,358 from 2017 to 2021, according to U.S. Census with 35.5% of the residents living in poverty.
Total per-pupil funding was $26,121 in 2020-21 for Flint, according to the Michigan Department of Education. The state average for all Michigan school districts was $12,018 that year. Flint received more than double the state average in 2020-21 in part because of its advantage in federal funding. Flint had $10,979 per pupil in federal money in 2020-21 compared to the state average of $1,187.
Flint spent some of the federal pandemic money on bonuses for employees. Flint Community Schools spent $7.1 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief money from
“These stipends, allowed under ESSER funding guidelines, were distributed three times during the 2021-22 school year,” Flint Superintendent Kevelin Jones said in an email to The Center Square. “The stipends were designed to build stability and consistency among our staff, which benefits our scholars academically, socially and emotionally. Teacher hiring and retention remains a top focus for districts across the country, and these stipends are helping retain staff and, ultimately, impacting our scholars.”
Flint’s average salary for teachers was still below the state average, however, in 2020-21 according to the state. The average teacher salary in Flint was $61,493 in 2020-21 with the state average at $64,237.
Flint’s average pay per employee within the district increased from $44,428 in 2019 to $60,018 in 2022. Overall wages decreased from $22.8 million in 2019 to $22.5 million in 2022 because the district cut staffing levels due to a long-term exodus of students.
The district had 7,207 students in 2013-14 and the dropped to 4,245 students in 2018-19. Enrollment continued to drop during the pandemic, falling to 3,042 students in 2021-22. There were 2,841 students in 2022-23.
According to data provided by the district, the number of employees on the payroll dropped from 514 to 374 from 2019 to 2022.
