Kankakee Times

St. Anne CHSD 302 in Kankakee receives $578 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in Kankakee County, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, St. George CCSD 258 in Kankakee receives $322 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.

St. Anne CHSD 302, which relies on the state for 39 percent of its revenue and spends $15,487 per student, ranks 227 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

St. George CCSD 258 relies on the state for 34 percent of its revenue and spends $7,639 per student. It ranks 834th 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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Kankakee 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*
St. Anne CHSD 302	Kankakee	St  Anne	217	39%	$249,686	$15,487	$578
St. Anne CCSD 256	Kankakee	St  Anne	315	43%	$131,831	$10,109	$537
Crescent Iroquois CUSD 249	Iroquois	Crescent City	111	19%	$168,049	$12,431	$535
Milford Area PSD 124	Iroquois	Milford	543	31%	$142,500	$12,093	$500
Kankakee SD 111	Kankakee	Kankakee	4,680	51%	$64,947	$13,013	$486
Iroquois County CUSD 9	Iroquois	Watseka	891	46%	$88,188	$10,098	$485
Pembroke CCSD 259	Kankakee	Hopkins Park	245	71%	$51,350	$13,329	$470
Cissna Park CUSD 6	Iroquois	Cissna Park	264	25%	$118,148	$9,572	$467
Bradley Bourbonnais CHSD 307	Kankakee	Bradley	1,862	25%	$363,843	$10,242	$460
Central CUSD 4	Iroquois	Ashkum	992	34%	$109,309	$10,799	$450
Bradley SD 61	Kankakee	Bradley	1,411	38%	$144,130	$10,330	$448
Iroquois West CUSD 10	Iroquois	Gilman	780	54%	$100,874	$11,790	$435
Herscher CUSD 2	Kankakee	Herscher	1,580	22%	$150,653	$11,536	$434
Manteno CUSD 5	Kankakee	Manteno	1,858	36%	$139,071	$10,147	$430
Grant Park CUSD 6	Kankakee	Grant Park	461	15%	$148,899	$9,712	$427
Bourbonnais SD 53	Kankakee	Bourbonnais	2,186	28%	$183,334	$9,291	$399
Momence CUSD 1	Kankakee	Momence	1,050	39%	$103,225	$9,989	$394
Donovan CUSD 3	Iroquois	Donovan	306	34%	$110,171	$9,636	$394
St. George CCSD 258	Kankakee	Bourbonnais	438	34%	$167,183	$7,639	$322

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.