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 |
*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.
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