This article originally appeared in The Detroit News July 22, 2025.

“Ann Arbor teacher says pay is so low he has to deliver pizzas,” the Ann Arbor News reported in an alarming summer 2017 story.

The article explained how Jeff Kass, an English teacher in Ann Arbor, worked two jobs to make ends meet. He would teach all day and then work late-night shifts several times a week. During teacher contract negotiations, Kass spoke out at a school board meeting. He showed up to the meeting in his Cottage Inn uniform and called for higher teacher pay.

“We need more money,” Kass said. “I just didn’t have enough income from my two jobs.”

The story was missing one pertinent fact: the teacher’s actual salary. My colleague Tom Gantert noticed this and did some digging — the district paid Kass $81,240 in the 2016-17 school year.

Thanks to the Michigan Government Salaries Database, anyone can look up what government employees in Michigan make. The database is a joint project of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, the Michigan Press Association and the Mackinac Center.

Michigan residents who want to keep an eye on government enjoy a wide range of tools like this one. Here are several:

• The Michigan Freedom of Information Act requires public agencies to release certain public records upon request. And thanks to the Open Meetings Act, government bodies must conduct meetings in the open, accessible to the public.

• Parents on the hunt for the best schools in their area can use MI School Data, the state’s official education data source. At the local level, state law requires public schools to publish some financial information online. Residents can review financial statements, the accounts payable check register, expense reimbursements and other financials.

• How much are school superintendents paid? Hop over to the Michigan Public School Superintendent Compensation Database. In 2024, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s reported base salary was $354,973.

• As part of the Michigan state budget process, lawmakers often request earmarks for targeted spending in their districts. This process, murky at best, enjoys new sunlight thanks to the Michigan House. Lawmakers must fill out an application to propose spending. Those applications are then posted on the Legislatively Directed Spending Items webpage. Using this resource, Michigan Capitol Confidential just reported that former Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, has requested more than $52 million in pork-barrel spending in the 2026 budget.

• Have you ever wondered who does business with the State of Michigan? Curious researchers can look up the contracts the Department of Technology, Management & Budget oversees. Local government entities in Michigan also participate in the state’s purchasing program, MiDEAL, which gives them more purchasing power. The contract list shows who supplies municipalities with cell phones, bottled water, ammunition, body armor or playground equipment.

• People may be too busy to attend every city council meeting or read every bill in the Legislature. But numerous tools help capture those things in searchable databases. MichiganVotes records every vote of every lawmaker. Users can search bills by sponsor, topic or keyword. Similarly, Citizen Portal seeks to capture “every word spoken by your elected leaders.” The service archives video from public meetings and creates a searchable transcript.

You don’t have to carry a press pass or work as a researcher at a major university to keep an eye on government agencies. As Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act puts it, “The people shall be informed so that they may fully participate in the democratic process.”

These tools help you shine a light.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.