McHenry Times

CHSD 155 in Crystal Lake receives $724 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in McHenry County, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Marengo-Union E Cons D 165 in Marengo receives $412 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.

CHSD 155, which relies on the state for 15 percent of its revenue and spends $15,021 per student, ranks 102 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Marengo-Union E Cons D 165 relies on the state for 20 percent of its revenue and spends $9,437 per student. It ranks 650th 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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McHenry County 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*
CHSD 155	McHenry	Crystal Lake	5,949	15%	$398,149	$15,021	$724
Marengo CHSD 154	McHenry	Marengo	656	12%	$439,249	$17,302	$649
McHenry CCSD 15	McHenry	McHenry	3,971	16%	$214,518	$13,932	$642
Richmond-Burton CHSD 157	McHenry	Richmond	652	13%	$455,735	$15,492	$635
Prairie Grove CSD 46	McHenry	Crystal Lake	704	7%	$295,010	$15,437	$630
McHenry CHSD 156	McHenry	McHenry	2,013	16%	$446,929	$13,145	$622
Nippersink SD 2	McHenry	Richmond	1,072	9%	$277,223	$12,419	$602
Johnsburg CUSD 12	McHenry	Johnsburg	1,806	14%	$168,551	$12,599	$600
Alden Hebron SD 19	McHenry	Hebron	373	14%	$187,868	$12,872	$576
Woodstock CUSD 200	McHenry	Woodstock	6,054	22%	$118,773	$12,900	$553
Riley CCSD 18	McHenry	Marengo	293	7%	$325,377	$11,081	$551
Fox River Grove Cons SD 3	McHenry	Fox River Grove	454	15%	$195,984	$12,500	$545
Crystal Lake CCSD 47	McHenry	Crystal Lake	7,035	14%	$220,462	$10,945	$534
Harvard CUSD 50	McHenry	Harvard	2,219	40%	$90,939	$12,093	$524
Cary CCSD 26	McHenry	Cary	2,227	12%	$234,021	$10,230	$470
Huntley Comm Sch Dist 158	McHenry	Algonquin	8,808	26%	$122,083	$9,769	$464
Harrison SD 36	McHenry	Wonder Lake	394	24%	$150,832	$10,772	$439
Marengo-Union E Cons D 165	McHenry	Marengo	929	20%	$207,943	$9,437	$412

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.