West Cook News

Forest Park SD 91 in Forest Park receives $1,015 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in West Suburbs, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Berkeley SD 87 in Berkeley receives $438 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.

Forest Park SD 91, which relies on the state for 10 percent of its revenue and spends $21,911 per student, ranks 17 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Berkeley SD 87 relies on the state for 34 percent of its revenue and spends $10,103 per student. It ranks 556th 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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West 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*
Forest Park SD 91	Cook	Forest Park	729	10%	$414,057	$21,911	$1,015
Oak Park-River Forest SD 200	Cook	Oak Park	2,872	7%	$651,644	$22,283	$994
Lyons Twp HSD 204	Cook	La Grange	3,784	6%	$724,515	$17,635	$828
La Grange SD 105 South	Cook	La Grange	1,369	8%	$403,957	$15,454	$820
LaGrange Highlands SD 106	Cook	La Grange	774	6%	$431,069	$14,269	$786
River Forest SD 90	Cook	River Forest	1,312	6%	$372,380	$14,966	$775
Leyden CHSD 212	Cook	Franklin Park	3,531	7%	$512,823	$17,595	$771
Mannheim SD 83	Cook	Franklin Park	2,367	12%	$271,148	$16,489	$767
Hillside SD 93	Cook	Hillside	460	7%	$569,300	$14,241	$703
Rhodes SD 84-5	Cook	River Grove	613	15%	$309,678	$14,872	$702
Elmwood Park CUSD 401	Cook	Elmwood Park	2,459	27%	$165,516	$14,613	$697
Oak Park ESD 97	Cook	Oak Park	5,582	17%	$247,746	$14,249	$695
Riverside-Brookfield Twp SD 208	Cook	Riverside	1,500	7%	$493,629	$15,130	$682
Riverside SD 96	Cook	Riverside	1,588	8%	$288,549	$13,598	$661
Western Springs SD 101	Cook	Western Springs	1,402	7%	$340,563	$11,208	$608
La Grange SD 102	Cook	La Grange Park	2,942	11%	$260,429	$12,645	$597
Franklin Park SD 84	Cook	Franklin Park	1,215	12%	$238,018	$13,275	$597
Union Ridge SD 86	Cook	Harwood Heights	587	14%	$286,728	$10,962	$579
Lindop SD 92	Cook	Broadview	393	16%	$208,214	$12,464	$574
Proviso Twp HSD 209	Cook	Forest Park	3,930	17%	$531,065	$16,052	$572
Komarek SD 94	Cook	North Riverside	504	9%	$248,136	$12,093	$560
Berwyn North SD 98	Cook	Berwyn	2,697	65%	$79,640	$11,718	$554
Westchester SD 92-5	Cook	Westchester	1,041	11%	$337,790	$11,914	$549
Cicero SD 99	Cook	Cicero	10,950	67%	$51,958	$11,191	$533
Lyons SD 103	Cook	Lyons	2,211	25%	$160,055	$12,063	$523
Central Stickney SD 110	Cook	Chicago	368	17%	$456,483	$12,036	$520
Brookfield Lagrange Park SD 95	Cook	Brookfield	1,047	14%	$198,932	$10,319	$506
J S Morton HSD 201	Cook	Cicero	7,171	42%	$200,098	$12,005	$500
River Grove SD 85-5	Cook	River Grove	666	25%	$186,137	$12,704	$473
Berwyn South SD 100	Cook	Berwyn	3,675	12%	$103,282	$12,252	$470
Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview 89	Cook	Melrose Park	4,696	59%	$96,213	$11,228	$469
Bellwood SD 88	Cook	Bellwood	2,454	45%	$126,148	$11,154	$468
Schiller Park SD 81	Cook	Schiller Park	1,470	17%	$205,944	$11,905	$461
Berkeley SD 87	Cook	Berkeley	2,443	34%	$160,357	$10,103	$438

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.