LTBB Master Land Use Plan - Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa ...

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School District Tabulations
The summary table “LTBB Reservation – School District Tabulations by District” (Table 6) and
the two graphs that accompany it (Graph 4, Graph 5) depict actual and computed data for the six
school districts that have either some or all of their area within the LTBB Reservation boundaries.
Actual data is for the 2002-2003 school year, as provided to www.greatschools.net and its affiliated
data programs. This data can also be seen on Map Two.
As can be seen from the table, the districts tabulated represent a variety of sizes and capabilities.
The largest district, Public Schools of Petoskey, has over 3000 students at 7 facilities, and covers 174
square miles, the second largest area of all those summarized here. This gives it an average of 433
students per facility, again the second highest of those listed.
Perhaps most valuably, we can see for each district the average number of students per facility,
and the area in square miles that each average facility must cover. Therefore, we note, for example,
that while Littlefield Public Schools has only one facility, that facility must service all 456 students,
highest in this listing, and cover 41 square miles.
This may give us an idea of the growth potential for each district as well. If, for example, there is
a small number of students per facility in the district but a large area is covered, that has perhaps
more potential for growth than a district that is small and built-out.
On the following page are tabulations of more traditional measures of a school districts
capability. For each of the six districts, we present the total number of staff in each of six categories,
and compute the number of students per staff member. This is then compared against the average
for the State of Michigan.
Rather than comment or point out data on individual school districts, we can perhaps indicate
that this data is subject to change on an annual basis, as staff are added or eliminated. As a snapshot
of existing conditions, however, this information has a great deal of value in several areas. Students
per teacher, or average class size, are important indicators of educational quality for most districts. In
addition, related to that, is the number of administrators. The relationship between number of
teachers, number of administrators, and the total enrollment may indicate something about the
allocation of budget dollars within the district.
Population Change Tabulation
The table “LTBB Reservation – Population Change Tabulation” (Table 7) and the graph that
accompanies it (Graph 6) illustrate important trends in population change among, and within, the
municipalities in the LTBB Reservation area. In it, we examine the total population for each MCD,
given in the 1970 Census, the 1980 Census, the 1990 Census, and the 2000 Census. Thus, we have
three decades of population change with which to develop trend information. This data is also
displayed via Maps 3 and 4.
As can be seen in the table, the vast majority of MCD’s have gained population in the 30-year
time span, but not all. Several have lost population either in the last decade, or indeed every decade
reviewed here. This distinction is important because, while the region as a whole is growing at a
relatively fast rate, the movement of population within the region, i.e. between municipalities, will
give us a better more precise idea of how to predict future growth. For example, both the City of
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