From 2009 to 2016, the gap between how much the state of Michigan has saved and how much it needs to cover pension promises made to school employees and retirees has grown by $17.1 billion. The pension system’s unfunded liability was $12.0 billion in 2009, and it rose to $29.1 billion in 2016.

How much is $17.1 billion? It's enough to give each of the state’s 95,000 public school teachers a $180,000 bonus.

The Kent Intermediate School District spent $275,206 on its May 2 enhancement millage victory, according to documents obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The May 2 ballot proposal increase was approved 54 to 46 percent, with 74,188 voting. The property tax hike will give each Kent County school district an additional $211 per student and cost taxpayers about $20 million annually.

Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Caniff said $128,000 of the cost was for conducting the election, such as poll workers and absentee ballot mailings.

“Our school districts asked us to call the election for the May date because the vast majority of tax collections within Kent ISD are in the summer,” Caniff said in an email. “The outcome of the May election allows our districts to receive the benefit of the millage beginning next school year, and local districts can properly plan and adopt their budgets accordingly.”

Caniff said the district also spent $150,000 on election communications, mailings and social media.

“We have almost a half million (460,000) registered voters in Kent County,” Caniff said. “As the taxing unit, we believe that it is our responsibility to taxpayers to fully communicate any proposal we put on the ballot asking for additional resources.”

By comparison, Ann Arbor Public Schools spent $7,478 on its May 2 election, according to a Freedom of Information Act response. There were 179,550 registered voters eligible to vote on the Ann Arbor Public Schools sinking fund.

“This is extremely concerning information about KISD, a governmental body, working to promote a millage result,” said Eric Larson, president of the Kent County Taxpayers Alliance, in an email. “The materials distributed by KISD were extremely biased towards an affirmative vote and highlight exactly the sort of behavior that we (the Kent County Taxpayers Alliance) oppose. This is why we supported the state legislation preventing schools and other governments from promoting — usually in a very biased way — any millage.”

The average salary of a Grand Rapids Public Schools teacher was $54,690 in 2015-16. The per capita income of city residents from 2011 to 2015 (in 2015 dollars) was $28,930, or just 53 percent of what teachers made in the school district.

Using that type of analysis, a study from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan found that Michigan public school teachers are the highest paid in the nation when salaries are compared to average incomes in the state where they serve.

The average Michigan public school teacher’s salary in 2015-16 was $63,878 while the state’s per capita personal income was $42,833 that year. This means the average teacher made 1.49 times the average income, the highest ratio in the nation.

Oregon, whose teachers earned $60,064 while the state’s personal income was $43,830 per person, had the second-highest ratio in the nation at 1.37.

In simple terms, Michigan’s annual teacher salary of $63,878 was the 11th-highest in the nation.

Washington, D.C.’s public school teachers earned $75,880 in 2015. Overall, that was third highest in the nation only behind New York ($77,957) and Massachusetts ($76,981). Since Washington D.C.’s per capita personal income was $73,505 (highest in the nation), the public school teachers there ranked 44th among their national peers when compared with residents.

South Dakota's teachers had the lowest pay relative to the population they serve, earning less than the average resident. South Dakota teachers earned $42,025 a year while per capita personal income in the state was $47,912.

Craig Thiel, the author of the study for the Citizens Research Council, said the findings have received little attention from the press. None of Michigan’s major news outlets have reported the findings. Thiel said he did see the report covered by The Education Trust-Midwest, a public policy research organization.

The CRC paper mentions that average teacher pay has been falling in Michigan for five consecutive years. The average teacher salary in 2015-16 (most recent year data is available from the Michigan Department of Education) was $61,875.

While the state average is falling, the salaries of individual Michigan teachers have been rising. The apparent contradiction is due to older, higher-paid teachers retiring and being replaced with younger teachers with less seniority and lower pay. Except for long-serving instructors who have reached the top of union-negotiated pay scales, the vast majority of Michigan teachers received a pay increase in 2015-16.

For example, at Okemos Public Schools in Ingham County, many teachers saw their salary increase from $66,210 in 2014-15 to $70,338 in 2015-16, a 6-percent pay hike.

Okemos is an affluent Lansing suburb, and its school district receives far less per pupil funding than the Lansing district. Okemos received $10,234 per pupil for its general fund in local, state and federal dollars while Lansing received $13,047 per pupil.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified funding for The Education Trust-Midwest. That public policy research organization is funded in part by The Kresge Foundation and The Skillman Foundation.