Macon Reporter

Blue Ridge CUSD 18 in Farmer City receives $497 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in Greater Decatur, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Sullivan CUSD 300 in Sullivan receives $365 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.

Blue Ridge CUSD 18, which relies on the state for 14 percent of its revenue and spends $12,627 per student, ranks 381 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Sullivan CUSD 300 relies on the state for 39 percent of its revenue and spends $8,232 per student. It ranks 784th 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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Greater Decatur 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*
Blue Ridge CUSD 18	Dewitt	Farmer City	674	14%	$202,382	$12,627	$497
Decatur SD 61	Macon	Decatur	7,381	47%	$92,568	$11,099	$487
Warrensburg-Latham CUSD 11	Macon	Warrensburg	878	25%	$139,863	$9,203	$453
Okaw Valley CUSD 302	Moultrie	Bethany	465	21%	$170,830	$9,740	$453
Sangamon Valley CUSD 9	Macon	Niantic	655	24%	$128,675	$9,986	$445
Clinton CUSD 15	Dewitt	Clinton	1,733	13%	$256,886	$10,079	$439
Meridian CUSD 15	Macon	Macon	914	34%	$121,936	$8,851	$438
Mt Zion CUSD 3	Macon	Mt Zion	2,299	33%	$115,092	$7,984	$400
Maroa Forsyth CUSD 2	Macon	Maroa	1,140	14%	$168,906	$8,512	$384
Argenta-Oreana CUSD 1	Macon	Argenta	870	26%	$143,924	$8,462	$384
Sullivan CUSD 300	Moultrie	Sullivan	1,031	39%	$108,253	$8,232	$365

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.