Chambana Sun

Armstrong-Ellis Cons SD 61 in Armstrong receives $978 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in Greater C-U, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Oakwood CUSD 76 in Oakwood receives $332 per student.

Wirepoints examined the system in which school districts pay salaries to teachers and administrators, but not pensions, which are funded by state tax dollars.

"It’s a scheme that allows districts to spend more money on salaries and perks than they otherwise would," Wirepoints reported. "Wealthy districts – like those on the North Shore – benefit far more from the state’s pension payments than poor districts do."

Almost 50 percent of what the state pays toward education has gone to teacher pensions in recent years, according to Wirepoints. Bigger pensions in wealthy districts means there’s less money to adequately fund districts with less property wealth.

Armstrong-Ellis Cons SD 61, which relies on the state for 8 percent of its revenue and spends $18,859 per student, ranks 22 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Oakwood CUSD 76 relies on the state for 46 percent of its revenue and spends $8,851 per student. It ranks 825th in the state.

The analysis shows Rondout SD 72 in Lake County received the biggest subsidy in the state and Earlville CUSD 9 in LaSalle County received the smallest subsidy.

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Greater C-U school districts receiving state-provided pension subsidies

District	County	City	Average daily attendance	Percent of district revenue provided by the state	EAV (taxable property) per student	District spending per student	State-provided pension subsidy per student*
Armstrong-Ellis Cons SD 61	Vermilion	Armstrong	64	8%	$632,841	$18,859	$978
Armstrong Twp HSD 225	Vermilion	Armstrong	126	3%	$460,386	$13,344	$675
Urbana SD 116	Champaign	Urbana	3,843	21%	$159,071	$13,835	$609
Champaign  CUSD 4	Champaign	Champaign	8,772	13%	$219,596	$13,478	$601
Rantoul Township HSD 193	Champaign	Rantoul	666	35%	$259,950	$12,694	$587
Thomasboro CCSD 130	Champaign	Thomasboro	145	37%	$169,990	$10,709	$527
Deland-Weldon CUSD 57	Piatt	DeLand	202	10%	$290,393	$13,022	$527
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley CUSD 5	Ford	Gibson City	979	23%	$121,607	$10,414	$516
Rantoul City SD 137	Champaign	Rantoul	1,499	52%	$65,476	$11,758	$515
Ludlow CCSD 142	Champaign	Ludlow	73	35%	$207,396	$12,239	$514
Bement CUSD 5	Piatt	Bement	296	15%	$201,229	$10,694	$507
Monticello CUSD 25	Piatt	Monticello	1,485	7%	$152,561	$9,573	$477
Danville CCSD 118	Vermilion	Danville	5,265	52%	$61,375	$11,705	$467
Hoopeston Area CUSD 11	Vermilion	Hoopeston	1,157	55%	$54,691	$10,987	$461
Paxton-Buckley-Loda CUD 10	Ford	Paxton	1,283	31%	$120,858	$10,305	$450
Prairieview-Ogden CCSD 197	Champaign	Royal	239	8%	$300,208	$9,968	$447
Mahomet-Seymour CUSD 3	Champaign	Mahomet	2,794	33%	$104,191	$9,102	$433
Heritage CUSD 8	Champaign	Homer	434	12%	$188,780	$11,531	$432
Fisher CUSD 1	Champaign	Fisher	590	22%	$116,166	$10,328	$429
Cerro Gordo CUSD 100	Piatt	Cerro Gordo	500	27%	$139,353	$8,667	$427
St Joseph Ogden CHSD 305	Champaign	St Joseph	446	17%	$406,509	$9,800	$424
Tolono CUSD 7	Champaign	Tolono	1,578	34%	$115,490	$8,979	$423
Salt Fork CUSD 512	Vermilion	Catlin	840	35%	$114,961	$9,106	$416
Bismarck Henning CUSD	Vermilion	Bismarck	751	35%	$99,522	$9,511	$411
Gifford CCSD 188	Champaign	Gifford	197	17%	$197,981	$8,832	$403
Georgetown-Ridge Farm CUD 4	Vermilion	Georgetown	916	53%	$68,071	$9,523	$394
Rossville-Alvin CUSD 7	Vermilion	Rossville	261	45%	$115,920	$8,614	$393
Potomac CUSD 10	Vermilion	Potomac	162	46%	$87,019	$8,513	$378
St Joseph CCSD 169	Champaign	St Joseph	870	35%	$140,616	$7,886	$360
Westville CUSD 2	Vermilion	Westville	1,191	66%	$37,392	$8,532	$352
Oakwood CUSD 76	Vermilion	Oakwood	922	46%	$80,911	$8,851	$332

Source: Source: Illinois State Board of Education, ILEARN data 2016; Total earnings data received from a 2018 FOIA request to the Teachers' Retirement System; TRS actuarial report 2017; Wirepoints calculations

*Proxy of the pension subsidy provided to each school district. District subsidy is calculated by taking the TRS employer normal cost in 2017 ($871 million) and multiplying it by each district's share of TRS total employee earnings. To calculate the subsidy per student, each district's share is divided by their average daily attendance.