Rock Island Today

Carbon Cliff-Barstow SD 36 in Silvis receives $602 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in Quad Cities, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Colona SD 190 receives $306 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 mean there’s less money to adequately fund districts with less property wealth.

Carbon Cliff-Barstow SD 36, which relies on the state for 54 percent of its revenue and spends $11,322 per student, ranks 193 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Colona SD 190 relies on the state for 44 percent of its revenue and spends $7,520 per student. It ranks 840th 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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Quad Cities 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*
Carbon Cliff-Barstow SD 36	Rock Island	Silvis	253	54%	$100,533	$11,322	$602
AlWood CUSD 225	Henry	Woodhull	325	14%	$188,494	$12,971	$598
United Twp HSD 30	Rock Island	East Moline	1,422	21%	$339,664	$10,851	$528
Moline-Coal Valley CUSD 40	Rock Island	Moline	6,541	25%	$123,171	$10,684	$525
Rock Island SD 41	Rock Island	Rock Island	6,091	34%	$85,274	$10,890	$521
East Moline SD 37	Rock Island	East Moline	2,581	34%	$121,605	$10,604	$512
Cambridge CUSD 227	Henry	Cambridge	444	25%	$127,979	$10,136	$498
Annawan CUSD 226	Henry	Annawan	361	23%	$133,103	$10,221	$478
Wethersfield CUSD 230	Henry	Kewanee	513	41%	$100,386	$9,555	$469
Rockridge CUSD 300	Rock Island	Taylor Ridge	1,042	14%	$178,898	$9,658	$449
Sherrard CUSD 200	Rock Island	Sherrard	1,342	34%	$110,884	$10,542	$443
Galva CUSD 224	Henry	Galva	509	26%	$147,546	$9,191	$440
Hampton SD 29	Rock Island	Hampton	213	31%	$165,626	$9,519	$440
Silvis SD 34	Rock Island	East Moline	577	36%	$122,939	$8,853	$434
Riverdale CUSD 100	Rock Island	Port Byron	1,055	24%	$139,515	$8,559	$416
Mercer County School District 404	Mercer	Aledo	1,237	31%	$109,645	$8,935	$390
Geneseo CUSD 228	Henry	Geneseo	2,342	25%	$142,115	$8,540	$376
Kewanee CUSD 229	Henry	Kewanee	1,692	58%	$42,395	$8,992	$371
Orion CUSD 223	Henry	Orion	1,010	23%	$133,392	$8,898	$358
Colona SD 190	Henry	Colona	429	44%	$88,796	$7,520	$306

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.