South Cook News

CHSD 218 in Oak Lawn receives $898 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in South Suburbs, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Calumet Public SD 132 in Calumet Park receives $352 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 218, which relies on the state for 13 percent of its revenue and spends $22,430 per student, ranks 36 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Calumet Public SD 132 relies on the state for 56 percent of its revenue and spends $10,926 per student. It ranks 807th 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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South 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*
CHSD 218	Cook	Oak Lawn	4,795	13%	$421,769	$22,430	$898
Argo CHSD 217	Cook	Summit	1,618	17%	$385,701	$19,138	$876
Oak Lawn CHSD 229	Cook	Oak Lawn	1,457	12%	$524,463	$17,890	$821
Reavis Twp HSD 220	Cook	Burbank	1,689	10%	$486,475	$16,278	$790
Bremen CHSD 228	Cook	Midlothian	4,513	27%	$256,722	$15,765	$781
Pleasantdale SD 107	Cook	Burr Ridge	775	6%	$654,032	$14,559	$767
Homewood Flossmoor CHSD 233	Cook	Flossmoor	2,560	20%	$247,627	$17,840	$756
Lemont Twp HSD 210	Cook	Lemont	1,274	6%	$771,309	$19,519	$749
Cons HSD 230	Cook	Orland Park	7,076	9%	$602,444	$16,204	$748
Rich Twp HSD 227	Cook	Matteson	2,833	14%	$319,893	$20,958	$745
Thornton Twp HSD 205	Cook	South Holland	5,038	30%	$232,243	$18,470	$742
Evergreen Park CHSD 231	Cook	Evergreen Park	820	11%	$440,085	$16,529	$741
Thornton Fractional Twp HSD 215	Cook	Lansing	3,175	33%	$197,203	$15,693	$724
Orland SD 135	Cook	Orland Park	4,514	9%	$423,118	$15,451	$716
Dolton SD 148	Cook	Riverdale	1,935	51%	$78,097	$15,724	$688
CCSD 146	Cook	Tinley Park	2,146	9%	$266,401	$15,214	$680
Bloom Twp HSD 206	Cook	Chicago Heights	2,748	30%	$253,542	$17,907	$676
Evergreen Park ESD 124	Cook	Evergreen Park	1,634	12%	$220,691	$13,659	$670
Ford Heights SD 169	Cook	Ford Heights	404	21%	$74,804	$25,082	$663
ESD 159	Cook	Matteson	1,629	13%	$235,213	$17,699	$653
Thornton SD 154	Cook	Thornton	217	12%	$211,396	$12,546	$638
Gen George Patton SD 133	Cook	Riverdale	273	39%	$90,028	$16,085	$629
Oak Lawn-Hometown SD 123	Cook	Oak Lawn	2,948	13%	$206,551	$11,862	$619
Kirby SD 140	Cook	Tinley Park	3,288	12%	$227,670	$12,026	$612
Palos CCSD 118	Cook	Palos Park	1,734	9%	$418,182	$13,181	$610
Matteson ESD 162	Cook	Richton Park	2,498	31%	$143,550	$14,746	$588
Dolton SD 149	Cook	Calumet City	2,604	53%	$91,497	$13,791	$582
CCSD 168	Cook	Sauk Village	1,237	62%	$56,285	$12,768	$573
Park Forest SD 163	Cook	Park Forest	1,771	51%	$45,788	$13,660	$562
Alsip-Hazlgrn-Oaklwn SD 126	Cook	Alsip	1,472	11%	$304,194	$12,153	$559
North Palos SD 117	Cook	Palos Hills	2,856	21%	$196,294	$11,637	$555
Willow Springs SD 108	Cook	Willow Springs	362	19%	$172,723	$12,551	$554
Country Club Hills SD 160	Cook	Country Club Hills	1,101	45%	$121,155	$14,276	$553
Calumet City SD 155	Cook	Calumet City	1,020	41%	$94,125	$14,745	$553
Homewood SD 153	Cook	Homewood	1,774	24%	$154,803	$12,233	$552
Flossmoor SD 161	Cook	Chicago Heights	2,166	21%	$168,903	$12,560	$549
Chicago Heights SD 170	Cook	Chicago Heights	2,817	55%	$83,826	$13,797	$541
Chicago Ridge SD 127-5	Cook	Chicago Ridge	1,241	47%	$106,540	$11,304	$541
Palos Heights SD 128	Cook	Palos Heights	687	9%	$399,375	$11,156	$536
South Holland SD 151	Cook	South Holland	1,480	37%	$131,803	$12,869	$529
Ridgeland SD 122	Cook	Oak Lawn	1,936	20%	$243,521	$13,349	$526
Sandridge SD 172	Cook	Chicago Heights	318	45%	$138,183	$12,377	$525
Summit SD 104	Cook	Summit	1,672	34%	$128,233	$13,103	$523
South Holland SD 150	Cook	South Holland	877	20%	$203,108	$10,324	$520
Midlothian SD 143	Cook	Midlothian	1,654	48%	$107,745	$10,511	$519
Worth SD 127	Cook	Worth	986	28%	$151,293	$11,399	$519
Cook County SD 130	Cook	Blue Island	3,484	36%	$132,283	$12,509	$513
Hoover-Schrum Memorial SD 157	Cook	Calumet City	853	30%	$139,800	$12,405	$512
Hazel Crest SD 152-5	Cook	Hazel Crest	839	42%	$113,031	$14,768	$509
Brookwood SD 167	Cook	Glenwood	1,066	35%	$131,353	$13,124	$487
Steger SD 194	Cook	Steger	1,328	37%	$132,766	$11,566	$483
Indian Springs SD 109	Cook	Justice	2,636	38%	$140,640	$10,912	$477
Burbank SD 111	Cook	Burbank	3,155	20%	$207,671	$10,580	$477
Prairie-Hills ESD 144	Cook	Markham	2,357	46%	$99,865	$12,497	$469
Sunnybrook SD 171	Cook	Lansing	924	36%	$133,087	$11,317	$467
W Harvey-Dixmoor PSD 147	Cook	Harvey	1,143	59%	$71,080	$13,875	$465
Lemont-Bromberek CSD 113A	Cook	Lemont	1,941	7%	$500,535	$11,716	$452
Harvey SD 152	Cook	Harvey	2,207	68%	$51,739	$12,447	$452
Lansing SD 158	Cook	Lansing	2,360	33%	$118,803	$10,693	$439
Atwood Heights SD 125	Cook	Alsip	695	30%	$150,377	$9,783	$422
Lincoln ESD 156	Cook	Calumet City	929	65%	$46,940	$9,671	$421
Posen-Robbins ESD 143-5	Cook	Posen	1,573	69%	$63,405	$9,877	$416
Arbor Park SD 145	Cook	Oak Forest	1,280	31%	$138,541	$11,279	$408
Forest Ridge SD 142	Cook	Oak Forest	1,475	27%	$159,438	$8,454	$397
Burnham SD 154-5	Cook	Burnham	207	50%	$78,223	$10,915	$388
Calumet Public SD 132	Cook	Calumet Park	1,017	56%	$89,760	$10,926	$352

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.