In the Bloomfield Hills School District, three of the top paid employees are music teachers, earning salaries of $108,972, $98,847 and $97,054.

Troy Public Schools listed the salaries and cost of benefits for all of its employees. There are 89 employees whose salaries exceeded $100,000.

Benton Harbor Area Schools doesn't have anyone making six figures since the superintendent left, according to Greg McIntyre, an accountant in the school district.

All that information was public record that the general public wouldn't have known until recently.

That's because the State School Aid Act was amended requiring each school district to post financial and salary and benefit information on its website. Schools had until July 30 to post the information, according to Michael Van Beek, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's director of education policy.

"I think it is great. This is something we've been pushing for years now," Van Beek said.

"It will give citizens the ability to go in and hold their school districts accountable."

It's the type of information that usually required a Freedom of Information Act request, and usually the person requesting was charged for reasonable costs.

Jackson Public Schools doesn't appear to have any information provided on its website. A'Lynne Robinson, a district spokeswoman, said she was looking into it.

Annarbor.com did an analysis of the information and did a story reporting that the Ann Arbor school district had 88 employees with salaries of $100,000 or more in 2009.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has urged school districts to post their expenditures online. (See: http://www.mackinac.org/9329.)

More than 80 districts are known to have agreed to do that.

~~~~~

See also:

Oxford Schools: Saving Money and Improving Service

Onsted Community Schools Shows Taxpayers the Money 

Find Out Who Works for YOU in the Michigan Legislature

Cronyism easier to conceal in state capital than in Washington or Detroit

Sun May Finally Shine on State Pols' Staff Salary Secrets

Rookie politicians reveal names, salaries of staff

K-12 Tumbles Down Voters' List of Priorities

School Funding Goes Up ... MEA Wants More

Warren Schools: Plenty of Desks, But Not Enough Cost-Cutting?

Sunshine Week 2010: Several Kent County Schools Now Posting Checkbooks Online