By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
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Illinoisans spend all-in $44 billion, or $24,000 per student, on PK-12 schools. They’ve doubled their per student spend over the past 15 years – the nation’s 3rd-biggest increase – and Illinoisans now spend the 11th-most in the country and by far the most in the Midwest. Illinois residents have done their job in funding the state’s education system, and their highest-in-the-nation property tax bills are proof.
Despite all that, the system continues to fail Illinois children. Nearly 60% of white students statewide can’t read at grade level. Nor can 80% of Hispanics and nearly 90% of black children. In many cities, like in Decatur and Peoria, the numbers are even more dire. And covid can’t be blamed. The results were equally bad before the pandemic hit.
Illinois’ public education system simply doesn’t work. And yet those in charge clamor for even more money. This year alone Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants another $1 billion from state taxpayers, never mind that Chicago schools already spend nearly $30,000 per student. And Chicago Teachers Unions President Stacy Davis Gates says she wants “$50 billion and 3 cents” for a new teachers contract that includes 9% minimum salary hikes for teachers. And educational interest groups want lawmakers to spend almost a full $1 billion more every year on the state’s funding formula.
It’s those kinds of demands year in and year out that push lawmakers to pour more money into education with no questions or accountability. It’s all part of the education hustle between teachers unions and the state’s politicians, which we wrote about in The Wall Street Journal.
If Illinoisans ever want to see a reduction in their property tax bills, and if they want more literate and numerate children in this state, they’ll need to push back. But first they’ll need to know the facts about how extreme and ineffective Illinois has become when it comes to education spending. We lay out five key facts below.
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A word on methodology, education spending and outcomes, and why state and federal data often differ.
- To arrive at all-in education spending numbers for Illinois, including funding for daily operations, capital, debt and pensions, Wirepoints uses data directly from the state budget and the State Board of Education. When all local, state and federal sources are added up, Illinois had about $44 billion, or $24,000 per student, to spend in 2024.
- When comparing across states to make apples-to-apples comparisons, however, Wirepoints relies on federal sources that aggregate data from across the country. Because federal reporting/financial requirements differ from Illinois, Illinois’ own education numbers will differ somewhat from federal sources. Wirepoints’ federal sources include the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Annual Survey of School System Finances, FY 2022,” the latest data available.
- The same holds true for Illinois student proficiencies in reading and math. State and federal tests differ from each other, so Illinois’ own state proficiency scores don’t match the federal government’s reported numbers. Wirepoints’ federal sources include student test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Wirepoints chose 2007 as the base year of our analysis to avoid the volatility in education funding during the Great Recession.
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1. Illinois is already one of the nation’s biggest spenders on education.
Based on U.S. Census data, Illinois spent nearly $19,000 per student in 2022, the most of any state in the Midwest. (That includes local, state and federal dollars.)
It’s $3,000 more per student than North Dakota, $4,000 more than Wisconsin, and $7,000 more than South Dakota.
Across all 50 states, Illinois ranks 11th-highest in total per student spending. The states that surpass Illinois are mostly high-cost states in the Northeast like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
2. Illinois has doubled its education spending since 2007
Illinois’ total per student spend grew 98% between 2022 and 2007, the 3rd-largest increase of the nation’s 50 states. Spending rose from about $9,500 in 2007 to nearly $19,000 in 2022.
Washington grew 104% and New Hampshire grew 101%, beating out Illinois’ growth only by a few percentage points.
Notable in the graphic are Indiana and Florida, at the opposite end from Illinois, with spending growth rates of less than 40%. Those states spend about $12,000 per student – $6,500 less per student than Illinois – and yet their student outcomes are the same or better than Illinois’. See the Appendix for a full 50-state comparison of per student spending and growth rates.
3. Illinois’ neediest districts also spend more than other Midwestern states.
Even with Illinois’ high rank in spending, education-funding proponents will argue that Illinois’ poorest districts need more money.
But Wirepoints found that the average per student spend of Illinois’ Tier 1, made up of the state’s 326 poorest districts, is still higher than the overall spending averages in every other Midwest state. The Tier 1 school districts spent an average of $15,864 per student.
4. Illinois’ increased education spending has done nothing to improve student outcomes.
Education spending per student has doubled since 2007, yet Illinois’ test results show virtually no improvement. Only about a third of all students were proficient in reading and math then, and those outcomes are about the same today.
Wirepoints analysis of Illinois student proficiencies comes from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The national test, a product of the U.S. Department of Education, allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of 4th-grade and 8th-grade student math and reading skills across time and the 50 states.
Illinois student outcomes are even more concerning when broken down by race. Only 41% of 4th-grade white students scored proficient in reading in 2022, one percentage point less compared to 2007.
The state’s minorities are even worse off. Just 21% of 4th-grade Hispanics and a shockingly low 13% of blacks scored reading proficient on NAEP tests in 2022. Those scores are about the same as they were 15 years ago.
Illinois’ spending vs. outcome problems become more obvious when you compare its results to other states. Illinoisans pay far more for education than their Midwestern neighbors to achieve roughly the same dismal results.
Reading proficiencies for those states all hover around the 30% mark, yet they spend anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 less per student than Illinois does. Illinois is the extreme outlier, forcing its residents to pay more for lesser results.
5. Illinoisans already pay the nation’s highest property taxes – and one of the highest tax burdens overall.
The net result is Illinoisans pay a huge price for near illiteracy and innumeracy. They pay the nation’s highest property taxes, more than double those in Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky. Nearly two-thirds of Illinois’ property taxes go to pay for education.
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Illinois’ educational elite have gotten away with spending more and more while delivering a failing educational system, and Illinoisans, by consistently voting for lawmakers who support the status quo, have been largely complicit.
The facts on the ground are indisputable and call for wholesale change, including universal school choice. The question is, will Illinoisans finally act on those facts?
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Appendix.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system – Wirepoints Special Report
- Chicago Public Schools fails its Hispanic students: Only 17 of every 100 read at grade level. – Wirepoints Special Report
- Illinois has more educators, less students than ever, yet officials complain about a ‘teacher shortage’
- Chicago mayor wants $1 billion more for schools even though 43% of CPS teachers are chronically absent
- Chicago Teachers Union contract demands are totally divorced from reality
- Illinois education officials keep trying to hide their failures behind excuse of “higher test standards”
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
For 22 years administrators did everything they could to interfere with me creating an environment where children acquire knowledge. Multiple Intelligence…..SEL…DEI…XYZ…. I finally gave up. Now I’m retired with a quarter million dollar bonus, (thank you AAI program), and a six-figure pension. The system is beyond repair. It can be saved by hiring career changers only. Demonstrate success in another profession before being entrusted with our Nation’s future. Over time you’ll rid the schools of “educators” and their moronic ideas.
As a contractor most everything I touch on a daily basis costs double what it did 4 years ago. Any one believing daily living inflation has not actually been more like 100% is delusional.
Good work, Ted and John!
If Illinois leaders cared, they would offer that $19,000 (per student) to the parents to home school. We all know why that will never happen in a Dem state. Meanwhile, the Illinois GOP is so pathetic, they can’t even exploit this easily understood issue.
Education is a favorite tool of the left to control voters. They bleat endlessly “it’s for the children!”, but it’s really about rewarding bloated payrolls of loyal union voters. Look at the list, and you’ll see those big blue states with their structural budget deficits, their high tax burdens and their unfunded pension liabilities. Now add children who can’t read or do math at grade level into the equation, despite the excessive spending. That my friends, is the work of democrats. Of course, they blame the parents or disinvestment in marginalized communities or any number of excuses, but that big… Read more »
It’s not just the current expenditures for students but what needs to calculated in is how much is also spent for those who retired. Include the costs for retirement from the supers down to the custodial staff and you can add many many billions more. Plus add in the cost for healthcare and the numbers become staggering for taxpayers. Yet if you ask the average person walking down the street about the costs they are clueless. Most of the parents have no clue on costs since education shall be free and they don’t care even if they knew.
Agreed. Providing more money clearly does not solve the problem.
The situation has been treated with the attitude of money is no object. The kids are dumb as ever and no one is held accountable. Public education is as large a scam as our medical industry in this country and no one seams to care.