North Cook News

New Trier Township HSD 203 in Northfield receives $1,177 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in North Suburbs, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Pennoyer SD 79 in Norridge receives $451 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.

New Trier Township HSD 203, which relies on the state for 2 percent of its revenue and spends $25,007 per student, ranks No. 3 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Pennoyer SD 79 relies on the state for 10 percent of its revenue and spends $9,756 per student. It ranks 507th 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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North Suburbs 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*
New Trier Twp HSD 203	Cook	Northfield	3,757	2%	$1,230,873	$25,007	$1,177
Kenilworth SD 38	Cook	Kenilworth	472	2%	$649,978	$22,200	$1,176
Sunset Ridge SD 29	Cook	Northfield	442	3%	$936,299	$25,703	$1,146
Winnetka SD 36	Cook	Winnetka	1,577	3%	$764,446	$21,916	$1,103
Avoca SD 37	Cook	Wilmette	684	3%	$645,972	$20,148	$1,083
Northfield Twp HSD 225	Cook	Glenview	4,702	4%	$965,838	$22,941	$1,065
Niles Twp HSD 219	Cook	Skokie	4,412	5%	$801,241	$26,951	$1,053
Northbrook ESD 27	Cook	Northbrook	1,167	4%	$619,557	$19,668	$1,044
Northbrook SD 28	Cook	Northbrook	1,651	3%	$647,682	$18,949	$1,004
Northbrook/Glenview SD 30	Cook	Northbrook	1,036	3%	$617,134	$19,010	$987
Maine Township HSD 207	Cook	Park Ridge	5,964	5%	$683,030	$19,219	$963
Evanston Twp HSD 202	Cook	Evanston	2,993	5%	$831,716	$22,742	$963
Township HSD 214	Cook	Arlington Heights	10,462	5%	$721,510	$20,674	$913
Glencoe SD 35	Cook	Glencoe	1,216	3%	$629,728	$17,849	$908
Rosemont ESD 78	Cook	Rosemont	217	7%	$765,058	$18,167	$905
Fairview SD 72	Cook	Skokie	632	6%	$622,542	$16,327	$899
West Northfield SD 31	Cook	Northbrook	818	5%	$631,531	$17,049	$895
Park Ridge CCSD 64	Cook	Park Ridge	4,093	6%	$345,520	$15,920	$852
Township HSD 211	Cook	Palatine	11,564	6%	$581,633	$18,196	$815
Lincolnwood SD 74	Cook	Lincolnwood	1,182	6%	$487,602	$16,810	$813
Niles ESD 71	Cook	Niles	503	6%	$771,961	$15,735	$799
CCSD 62	Cook	Des Plaines	4,269	11%	$359,111	$16,921	$799
River Trails SD 26	Cook	Mt Prospect	1,383	7%	$343,131	$16,288	$790
Wilmette SD 39	Cook	Wilmette	3,367	5%	$442,566	$14,658	$774
Evanston CCSD 65	Cook	Evanston	7,242	10%	$343,702	$14,521	$774
Wheeling CCSD 21	Cook	Wheeling	5,988	11%	$266,962	$16,792	$768
Skokie SD 68	Cook	Skokie	1,715	9%	$502,747	$15,179	$751
Comm Cons SD 59	Cook	Arlington Heights	6,343	12%	$391,148	$14,512	$745
Ridgewood CHSD 234	Cook	Norridge	746	5%	$711,701	$20,135	$744
Skokie SD 73-5	Cook	Skokie	998	8%	$258,762	$16,039	$742
Morton Grove SD 70	Cook	Morton Grove	831	7%	$323,027	$13,953	$713
Skokie SD 69	Cook	Skokie	1,573	13%	$237,460	$12,989	$698
Schaumburg CCSD 54	Cook	Schaumburg	13,302	9%	$303,045	$13,018	$688
Golf ESD 67	Cook	Morton Grove	615	6%	$411,376	$13,530	$687
Arlington Heights SD 25	Cook	Arlington Heights	4,859	7%	$322,313	$13,399	$686
East Prairie SD 73	Cook	Skokie	528	9%	$303,467	$13,639	$680
Glenview CCSD 34	Cook	Glenview	4,423	7%	$359,178	$13,399	$654
East Maine SD 63	Cook	Des Plaines	3,106	15%	$310,209	$12,758	$635
Prospect Heights SD 23	Cook	Prospect Heights	1,439	9%	$324,321	$13,451	$631
Palatine CCSD 15	Cook	Palatine	11,170	12%	$281,208	$12,896	$604
Norridge SD 80	Cook	Norridge	1,041	13%	$337,047	$10,256	$555
Mount Prospect SD 57	Cook	Mt  Prospect	2,022	8%	$273,776	$10,786	$539
Pennoyer SD 79	Cook	Norridge	396	10%	$344,410	$9,756	$451

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.