Lakewood Public Schools vs Teton County District
MI · 1,595 students • ID · 1,962 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Lakewood Public Schools spends 2% more per student than Teton County District after adjusting for local price levels.
- Teton County District directs 1 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Lakewood Public Schools.
- Teton County District is far more dependent on local property taxes (36% of revenue vs 23%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
- Teton County District reports fewer students per teacher (16.1 vs 19.7). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 1,595 | 1,962 |
| Schools | 4 | 7 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Rural | Rural |
| County | Barry County | Teton County |
| State | MI | ID |
| Local price level (US = 100) Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 95.5 | 95.5 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $13,306 | $13,015 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $13,927 | $13,629 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $13,083 | $12,751 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Lakewood Public Schools
Teton County District
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Lakewood Public Schools
- Local 22.9% Locked
- State 72.0% Locked
- Federal 5.1% Locked
Teton County District
- Local 35.9% Locked
- State 58.8% Locked
- Federal 5.3% Locked
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 22.9% | 35.9% |
| State share of revenue | 72.0% | 58.8% |
| Federal share of revenue | 5.1% | 5.3% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How MI funds its districts
Proposal A foundation allowance: a per-pupil grant largely funded by the state, with limited local enhancement.
How ID funds its districts
We have not yet written up ID's funding formula, so nothing is claimed here.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Lakewood Public Schools
- Instruction 59.9% Locked
- Instructional staff support 2.0% Locked
- Student support 2.9% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 8.3% Locked
- Transportation 6.1% Locked
- Food service 5.2% Locked
- School administration 5.6% Locked
- District administration 3.2% Locked
- Other support 6.8% Locked
- Other current 5.2% Locked
Teton County District
- Instruction 55.4% Locked
- Instructional staff support 7.7% Locked
- Student support 2.5% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 11.3% Locked
- Transportation 6.4% Locked
- Food service 4.2% Locked
- School administration 6.8% Locked
- District administration 2.8% Locked
- Other support 2.1% Locked
- Other current 4.3% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Lakewood Public Schools minus Teton County District. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 62.0% | 63.1% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 8.8% | 9.5% |
| Transportation share | 6.1% | 6.4% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrollment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 19.7 | 16.1 |
| Students per counselor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Children aged 5 to 17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 8.7% | 9.3% |
| English learners | — | — |
| Students with disabilities | — | — |
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -11.5% | +4.6% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Lakewood Public Schools
- Declining enrollment Enrollment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrollment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
Teton County District
- High debt burden More than 10% of total spending goes to interest and debt retirement, money that cannot reach a classroom.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment change, 5 years | -11.5% | +4.6% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Lakewood Public Schools
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Teton County District
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrollment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in MI and ID.
- At least one district sits outside a metro area with its own published price index, so its cost adjustment uses the statewide index. That is a coarser adjustment.
What these numbers are, exactly
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Lakewood Public Schools
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Teton County District
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
| Lakewood Public Schools | Teton County District | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $2,744 | $4,206 |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | — |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 16.9% | 27.5% |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Lakewood Public Schools: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Teton County District: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. It records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Funding measures on the ballot
Lakewood Public Schools
This district appears in none of what we read from MI’s source in its current ballot window (2026).
What this state publishes: Michigan's Voter Information Center publishes sample ballots, not results. Every question here is the text voters were given; the Secretary of State's ballot preview records no vote counts and no outcome, so nothing on this page says whether a Michigan measure passed. The preview also carries only the elections in its current window — recent and upcoming — so a Michigan district's older bonds and millages are not here. And one precinct is read per township or city: where a township is split between school districts, a question that appeared only in another precinct of that township is not here either. A Michigan district with no rows has not necessarily left its taxpayers alone.
Teton County District
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-11-05 | Operating levy Teton School District 401 Supplemental Levy |
— | 63.7% | No outcome published |
Locked 3 earlier measures in this district’s history are not shown.
4 measures have no outcome in the state’s file.
From the state’s own election file. Latest election on record: 2024-11-05.
What this state publishes: School district ballot questions from the Idaho Secretary of State's elections database, which states its own span as 1990 to 2024 and holds 713 questions across every local taxing body in the state. Only even-year May primaries and November generals appear: Idaho school districts may also vote in March, in August and in odd-numbered years, and none of those elections are in this file, so a district shown with no measure in a year may simply have voted on a date the state does not archive here. Local school questions begin in practice in 2014. Two things this source does not supply are left out rather than guessed at. It publishes no outcome — the winning choice it marks is the majority recomputed for display, and Idaho bonds need a two-thirds supermajority, so a measure with 60 percent support is marked a winner and failed — and so no Idaho measure here is shown as passed or defeated. And it files each question under a single county, district or the state without saying whether those votes are the whole district's: for a district lying across county lines each county canvasses its own part, so a question is published only where the source files it under the school district itself or where every county named on the ballot reported.
- A vote share is not an outcome. What it takes to carry varies by state and by measure — in some states a bond needs a supermajority and a minimum turnout while a levy on the same ballot needs half, so a clear majority can still lose. Every outcome shown here is copied from the state’s own election file, and the rule that applied is stated with the coverage above. Where that file stated no outcome we show whatever count it published and no verdict, rather than working one out from the percentage — and some states publish the ballot question without ever recording a count, so a blank there is a number nobody printed.
- These are the measures a district put to its voters, not its whole tax bill. A property tax bill also carries county, city and state levies that have nothing to do with schools, and in most states a school board can issue some kinds of debt with no vote at all.
What this band does not answer yet
The detailed figures for Lakewood Public Schools and Teton County District
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and total current spending, and the funding mix in dollars (the percentage shares stay free)
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counselor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the full ballot history: 3 more bonds and levies, with the amounts
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Compare something else
Lakewood Public Schools on its own · Teton County District on its own