McHenry Times

Does more money equal a better education?

There’s perhaps no better way to examine that question than the real-life experiment known as the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), where over the past 10 years, enrollment has fallen and spending has soared.

CPS enrollment in 2005 was more than 425,000. Last year it was less than 398,000.

But CPS isn’t spending less than 10 years ago to educate fewer children -- it’s spending more. Much, much more.

In fact, Chicago school spending has risen 30 percent in the past 10 years. Last year, per-pupil spending was $15,120, making CPS one of the richest school districts in the state.

Driven by an all-Chicago power structure in Springfield -- both the House and Senate have been controlled by Chicago Machine Democrats since the mid-1990s, and the 2000s saw two Chicago-bred governors (Rod Blagojevich, Pat Quinn) -- the burden for Chicago school spending now falls on state taxpayers.

Left with complete control of Springfield and state coffers, Chicago leaders did what you’d expect they would: they siphoned more money from downstate and the suburbs to CPS.

In 2005, Springfield sent $1.4 billion to CPS. Last year, it sent $1.8 billion -- for fewer students.

Comparing spending and test scores

So what were the results?

In last year’s statewide PARCC exam, 25 percent of CPS students passed. Put more cynically -- 75 percent failed a test in which failure means a student “isn’t ready for the next grade.”

How did McHenry County school districts compare?

Conley Elementary in Algonquin saw 59.3 percent of students pass the PARCC exam, tops in McHenry County. It spends $8,844 per pupil, 71 percent less than Chicago.

Woods Creek Elementary in Crystal Lake ranked second with 59 percent passing. It spent $10,267, 47 percent less than Chicago.

Marengo High School was the highest-spending school in McHenry County -- $15,404 per pupil. But only 14 percent of its students passed the PARCC exam.