Hinsdale Township HSD 86 in Hinsdale receives $930 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in DuPage County, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.
At the bottom, Addison SD 4 in Addison receives $479 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.
Hinsdale Township HSD 86, which relies on the state for 5 percent of its revenue and spends $19,113 per student, ranks 26 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.
Addison SD 4 relies on the state for 25 percent of its revenue and spends $9,699 per student. It ranks 418th 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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DuPage 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* |
| Hinsdale Township HSD 86 | Dupage | Hinsdale | 4,405 | 5% | $1,079,225 | $19,113 | $930 |
| Lisle CUSD 202 | Dupage | Lisle | 1,359 | 7% | $398,096 | $19,286 | $928 |
| CUSD 201 | Dupage | Westmont | 1,234 | 10% | $348,370 | $18,699 | $911 |
| Fenton CHSD 100 | Dupage | Bensenville | 1,363 | 7% | $768,905 | $19,216 | $889 |
| Hinsdale CCSD 181 | Dupage | Burr Ridge | 3,432 | 4% | $632,277 | $17,704 | $886 |
| Butler SD 53 | Dupage | Oak Brook | 507 | 3% | $1,479,209 | $17,295 | $863 |
| Lombard SD 44 | Dupage | Lombard | 2,832 | 7% | $348,354 | $15,111 | $836 |
| CHSD 99 | Dupage | Downers Grove | 4,598 | 7% | $826,118 | $17,260 | $824 |
| Gower SD 62 | Dupage | Willowbrook | 783 | 5% | $823,339 | $16,015 | $794 |
| Glenbard Twp HSD 87 | Dupage | Glen Ellyn | 7,426 | 8% | $626,492 | $16,384 | $786 |
| DuPage HSD 88 | Dupage | Addison | 3,427 | 9% | $709,128 | $18,404 | $784 |
| Maercker SD 60 | Dupage | Westmont | 1,191 | 8% | $456,373 | $14,307 | $752 |
| Winfield SD 34 | Dupage | Winfield | 291 | 5% | $406,744 | $17,687 | $743 |
| Lake Park CHSD 108 | Dupage | Roselle | 2,433 | 5% | $715,425 | $17,745 | $743 |
| CCSD 180 | Dupage | Burr Ridge | 572 | 20% | $452,051 | $17,075 | $741 |
| Benjamin SD 25 | Dupage | West Chicago | 609 | 8% | $330,965 | $16,252 | $737 |
| Glen Ellyn SD 41 | Dupage | Glen Ellyn | 2,970 | 6% | $388,827 | $13,954 | $728 |
| Naperville CUSD 203 | Dupage | Naperville | 15,574 | 8% | $267,316 | $14,659 | $726 |
| Marquardt SD 15 | Dupage | Glendale Heights | 2,317 | 21% | $207,510 | $14,692 | $725 |
| Woodridge SD 68 | Dupage | Woodridge | 2,548 | 11% | $285,198 | $13,858 | $723 |
| Salt Creek SD 48 | Dupage | Villa Park | 459 | 6% | $1,199,132 | $18,654 | $722 |
| CCSD 93 | Dupage | Bloomingdale | 3,712 | 8% | $274,257 | $14,457 | $720 |
| Elmhurst SD 205 | Dupage | Elmhurst | 7,641 | 7% | $253,700 | $13,860 | $686 |
| Center Cass SD 66 | Dupage | Downers Grove | 933 | 6% | $486,818 | $12,663 | $683 |
| Cass SD 63 | Dupage | Darien | 685 | 7% | $441,439 | $13,626 | $655 |
| CUSD 200 | Dupage | Wheaton | 11,773 | 8% | $226,105 | $12,898 | $650 |
| CCSD 89 | Dupage | Glen Ellyn | 2,006 | 5% | $358,693 | $12,340 | $635 |
| SD 45 DuPage County | Dupage | Villa Park | 3,129 | 15% | $287,120 | $13,001 | $631 |
| Downers Grove GSD 58 | Dupage | Downers Grove | 4,535 | 7% | $505,425 | $12,702 | $630 |
| CHSD 94 | Dupage | West Chicago | 1,832 | 11% | $513,951 | $14,618 | $613 |
| Darien SD 61 | Dupage | Darien | 1,433 | 12% | $295,112 | $10,834 | $607 |
| Wood Dale SD 7 | Dupage | Wood Dale | 1,027 | 13% | $465,476 | $12,888 | $593 |
| Bensenville SD 2 | Dupage | Bensenville | 2,029 | 13% | $281,109 | $14,493 | $592 |
| Bloomingdale SD 13 | Dupage | Bloomingdale | 1,177 | 6% | $404,151 | $12,972 | $592 |
| Medinah SD 11 | Dupage | Roselle | 592 | 9% | $440,772 | $14,865 | $575 |
| Roselle SD 12 | Dupage | Roselle | 654 | 6% | $358,608 | $12,482 | $575 |
| Indian Prairie CUSD 204 | Dupage | Naperville | 26,506 | 12% | $171,041 | $11,468 | $571 |
| Queen Bee SD 16 | Dupage | Glendale Heights | 1,754 | 23% | $167,193 | $12,386 | $561 |
| West Chicago ESD 33 | Dupage | West Chicago | 4,210 | 33% | $147,668 | $12,057 | $543 |
| Itasca SD 10 | Dupage | Itasca | 894 | 5% | $480,101 | $11,558 | $504 |
| Keeneyville SD 20 | Dupage | Hanover Park | 1,409 | 15% | $241,691 | $11,232 | $494 |
| Addison SD 4 | Dupage | Addison | 3,914 | 25% | $250,668 | $9,699 | $479 |
*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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