Much of the day-to-day life of Michigan’s public schools is shaped by their district's union contracts, spending choices and available revenues. Michigan School Databases, hosted by the Mackinac Center, provides a revealing look at Michigan's public school districts.

District Collective Bargaining Agreements: This database contains PDF copies of each Michigan district’s collective bargaining agreements for teachers, bus drivers, classroom aides, office secretaries and other employees. Union contracts spell out not just salaries and benefits, but also important information about class size, employee evaluations, school calendars, how teachers are assigned to classrooms, and more.
District Revenue and Expenditure Report: These data are taken from the National Public Education Finance Survey and show major categories of revenue and expenditure for each public school district for fiscal 2005 through fiscal 2007. The figures appear as both dollar amounts per category and dollar amounts per pupil. Each district is compared to the state average.
District Checkbook Register Report: Part of the Mackinac Center’s ongoing government transparency project “Show Michigan the Money,” this database links users to the checkbook registers of the school districts that publish such data online. Users can track districts' expenditures check by check at these sites. More districts are expected to publish their registers online in the months to come.
District Categorical Grant Report: In addition to per-pupil revenues, Michigan school districts receive grant money for specific purposes independent of total student enrollment. The categorical grants database lists the amount each district received in fiscal 2007 in categories as diverse as “at-risk students,” “math readiness” and “bilingual education.” The database permits district-to-district comparisons.
A Michigan School Money Primer: This primer does not make policy recommendations. Instead, it explains how revenues are raised for Michigan’s elementary and secondary public school system; how money is distributed to education programs and school districts once it is collected by various taxing authorities; and how districts budget monies for the various activities involved in operating schools and other educational programming.