Historical public education information in Michigan, 2011-2015

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

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Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Michigan's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Michigan's public education page.

The Michigan public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Michigan had 1,573,537 students enrolled in a total of 3,550 schools in 869 school districts. There were 86,997 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 18 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 336 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Michigan spent $10,823 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 21st highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 76 percent in 2012.

State agencies

See also: Michigan Department of Education

The mission statement of the Michigan Department of Education reads:

“

Through leadership, policy implementation, and light-of-day reporting, the Michigan Department of Education will increase full-time, full-access systems of education that support success for every student.

”

The Michigan Department of Education is led by the State Superintendent. The State Superintendent is appointed by the Michigan State Board of Education. The State Superintendent was Mike Flanagan in 2014.

The State Board of Education is composed of eight members elected at large in partisan elections to eight-year terms of office.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Michigan compared to three neighboring states in school year 2011-2012 with respect to the total numbers of schools, districts and students in the state, along with the number of teachers per pupil, the number of administrators per pupil and the amount of spending per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Michigan	3,550	869	1,573,537	86,997	1:18.1	1:336.2	$10,823
Illinois	4,336	1,075	2,083,097	131,777	1:15.8	1:283	$10,774
Indiana	1,933	394	1,040,765	62,339	1:16.7	1:332.9	$9,370
Wisconsin	2,243	462	871,105	56,245	1:15.5	1:363.9	$11,774
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey," 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12" U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011, Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Michigan as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Michigan's K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	12,183	0.77%	1.10%
Asian	42,827	2.72%	4.68%
African American	296,124	18.82%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	1,347	0.09%	0.42%
Hispanic	97,494	6.20%	24.37%
White	1,088,587	69.18%	51.21%
Two or more	34,975	2.22%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States who are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the U.S.

During the 2011-2012 school year a plurality of students in Michigan attended suburban schools. Approximately 64 percent of the state's students attended city or suburban schools, compared to approximately 36 percent who attended rural or town schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Michigan	23.8%	40.2%	11.4%	24.6%
Illinois	31.3%	43.3%	10.3%	15.1%
Indiana	27.9%	23.2%	14.7%	34.1%
Wisconsin	27.5%	24%	19.2%	29.3%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin), Michigan had the smallest share of students (both fourth- and eighth-graders) who scored at or above proficient in math and reading during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Michigan	37%	30%	31%	33%
Illinois	39%	36%	34%	36%
Indiana	52%	38%	38%	35%
Wisconsin	47%	40%	35%	36%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Michigan and surrounding states for 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Michigan	76%	Fourth	20.1	100%	1,782	4%
Illinois	82%	Third	20.9	100%	1,807	5%
Indiana	86%	First	22.3	32%	1,470	70%
Wisconsin	88%	First	22.1	71%	1,771	4%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky and Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Michigan was higher than the national average at 7.2 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 6.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Michigan

As of June 2015, school choice options in Michigan included charter schools, inter-district and intra-district open enrollment policies, and online learning programs. In addition, about 8.05 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-2012 academic year, and an estimated 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-2013.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Michigan state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), Michigan spent approximately 27.2 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. As a share of the budget, this was down 2.30 percentage points, or 7.8 percent, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 29.5 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Michigan	27.2%	$10,823	13.75%	55.03%	31.22%
Illinois	15.8%	$10,774	10.09%	32.42%	57.49%
Indiana	32.9%	$9,370	8.8%	62.12%	29.08%
Wisconsin	16.7%	$11,774	8.79%	45.83%	45.38%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011, Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Michigan totaled approximately $19.5 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for Michigan and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Michigan	$2,677,078	$10,710,646	$6,075,517	$19,463,241
Illinois	$2,895,524	$9,304,948	$16,499,969	$28,700,441
Indiana	$1,059,777	$7,483,801	$3,503,856	$12,047,434
Wisconsin	$1,002,909	$5,226,954	$5,175,978	$11,405,841
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Michigan totaled approximately $19.3 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for Michigan and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Michigan	$16,728,164	$1,334,386	$1,269,168	$19,331,718
Illinois	$24,525,567	$1,884,976	$1,138,206	$27,548,749
Indiana	$9,769,064	$881,151	$423,657	$11,073,872
Wisconsin	$10,175,521	$541,918	$469,214	$11,186,653
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Michigan, the average salary decreased by 8.2 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Michigan	$67,023	$61,867	$62,585	$61,560	-8.2%
Illinois	$63,527	$66,264	$58,595	$59,113	-6.9%
Indiana	$57,192	$53,357	$51,357	$51,456	-10%
Wisconsin	$56,239	$54,721	$54,687	$55,171	-1.9%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Michigan ranked 16th overall, or "strong," which was in the second of five tiers.

The main unions related to the Michigan school system are the Michigan Education Association (MEA), an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), and AFT Michigan, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). MEA is the largest education association in the state. For the 2003 tax period MEA had $73.26 million in total revenue, $67.07 million in total expenses and $52.27 million in total assets. For the same period, AFT Michigan had $3.67 million in total revenue, $3.69 million in total expenses and $2.29 million in total assets.

List of local Michigan school unions:

• Michigan Education Association
• AFT Michigan
• Grand Rapids Education Association
• Utica Education Association
• Lansing Schools Education Association
• Livonia Education Association
• Plymouth Canton Education Association
• Walled Lake Education Association
• Farmington Education Association

Government sector lobbying

See also: Michigan government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organizations are the Michigan Association of School Boards and the Michigan Association of School Personnel Administrators.

Transparency

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan research and educational institute. MichiganTransparency.org, a project of the Mackinac Center, features revenue and spending data for Michigan public school districts as reported by the Michigan Department of Education, as well as categorical grant data and school checkbook registers.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Michigan
• Michigan
• Education Policy in the U.S.