Grundy Reporter

Nettle Creek CCSD 24C in Morris receives $660 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in Grundy County, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Morris SD 54 in Morris receives $369 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.

Nettle Creek CCSD 24C, which relies on the state for 6 percent of its revenue and spends $13,949 per student, ranks 141 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Morris SD 54 relies on the state for 24 percent of its revenue and spends $9,803 per student. It ranks 775th 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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Grundy 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*
Nettle Creek CCSD 24C	Grundy	Morris	82	6%	$462,660	$13,949	$660
Gardner S Wilmington Twp HSD 73	Grundy	Gardner	177	28%	$307,548	$17,045	$653
Mazon-Verona-Kinsman ESD 2C	Grundy	Mazon	285	9%	$316,073	$12,713	$582
Coal City CUSD 1	Grundy	Coal City	1,981	7%	$398,124	$12,962	$548
Morris CHSD 101	Grundy	Morris	838	17%	$464,678	$12,101	$515
Braceville SD 75	Grundy	Braceville	113	59%	$136,381	$9,374	$499
Minooka CHSD 111	Grundy	Channahon	2,573	15%	$411,639	$12,047	$497
South Wilmington CCSD 74	Grundy	South Wilmington	95	24%	$195,556	$8,211	$433
Gardner CCSD 72C	Grundy	Gardner	186	42%	$110,936	$9,610	$396
Saratoga CCSD 60C	Grundy	Morris	757	12%	$222,902	$7,363	$390
Minooka CCSD 201	Grundy	Minooka	4,166	26%	$167,434	$8,105	$375
Morris SD 54	Grundy	Morris	1,095	24%	$184,399	$9,803	$369

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.