Historical public education information in Illinois, 2011-2013

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Illinois' public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Illinois' public education page.

The Illinois public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Illinois had 2,083,097 students enrolled in a total of 4,336 schools in 1,075 school districts. There were 131,777 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 16 students, which was the same as the national average. There was roughly one administrator for every 283 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average, Illinois spent $10,774 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 22nd highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 82 percent in 2012. This was the Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate reported to the United States Department of Education for all students in 2011-2012.

State agencies

See also: Illinois Department of Education

The Illinois State Board of Education is in charge of setting educational policies for public and private schools, grades kindergarten through 12th, as well as vocational schools, in Illinois. The Board analyzes the needs of students and schools in order to recommend legislation to both the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor of Illinois.

The Illinois State Board of Education consists of nine members. The members are appointed by the governor and approved by the Illinois State Senate. They serve four-year terms and may serve a total of two consecutive terms.

The mission statement of the Illinois State Board of Education reads:

“

The Illinois State Board of Education will provide leadership, assistance, resources and advocacy so that every student is prepared to succeed in careers and postsecondary education, and share accountability for doing so with districts and schools.

”

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Illinois compared to three neighboring states in school year 2011-2012 with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Illinois	4,336	1,075	2,083,097	131,777	1:15.8	1:283	$10,774
Indiana	1,933	394	1,040,765	62,339	1:16.7	1:332.9	$9,370
Iowa	1,411	361	495,870	34,658	1:14.3	1:277.2	$9,807
Wisconsin	2,243	462	871,105	56,245	1:15.5	1:363.9	$11,774
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12 U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Illinois as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Illinois' K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	6,260	0.30%	1.10%
Asian	87,546	4.20%	4.68%
African American	375,919	18.05%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	2,009	0.10%	0.42%
Hispanic	493,698	23.7%	24.37%
White	1,058,714	50.82%	51.21%
Two or More	58,951	2.83%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the United States

During the 2011-2012 school year a plurality of students in Illinois attended suburban schools, unlike students in Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. Students in those states were more likely to attend rural schools than suburban schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Illinois	34.1%	43.3%	10.3%	15.1%
Indiana	27.9%	23.2%	14.7%	34.1%
Iowa	26.4%	8.2%	25.4%	40.1%
Wisconsin	27.5%	24%	19.2%	29.3%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin), Illinois had a smaller percentage of students score at or above proficient in fourth grade math and reading during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Illinois	39%	36%	34%	36%
Indiana	52%	38%	38%	35%
Iowa	48%	36%	38%	37%
Wisconsin	47%	40%	35%	36%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Illinois and surrounding states for 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Illinois	82%	Third	20.9	100%	1807	5%
Indiana	86%	First	22.3	32%	1470	70%
Iowa	89%	First	22.1	63%	1763	3%
Wisconsin	88%	First	22.1	71%	1771	4%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Illinois was lower than the national average at 2.9 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.4 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Illinois

As of June 2015, school choice options in Illinois included: charter schools, education tax credits, homeschooling, online learning, private schools and mandatory intra-district public school open enrollment.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Illinois state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), Illinois spent approximately 15.8 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. This was down six percentage points, or 27.5 percent as a portion of the budget, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 21.8 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education. Over half of the state's education revenue comes from local funding. State funding accounts for less than 33 percent, and federal funding accounts for approximately 10 percent.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Illinois	15.8%	$10,774	10.09%	32.42%	57.49%
Indiana	32.9%	$9,370	8.8%	62.12%	29.08%
Iowa	16.8%	$9,807	10.15%	43.18%	46.66%
Wisconsin	16.7%	$11,774	8.79%	45.83%	45.38%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Illinois totaled approximately $28.7 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for Illinois and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Illinois	$2,895,524	$9,304,948	$16,499,969	$28,700,441
Indiana	$1,059,777	$7,483,801	$3,503,856	$12,047,434
Iowa	$596,688	$2,537,754	$2,742,378	$5,876,820
Wisconsin	$1,002,909	$5,226,954	$5,175,978	$11,405,841
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Illinois totaled approximately $27.5 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for Illinois and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Illinois	$24,525,567	$1,884,976	$1,138,206	$27,548,749
Indiana	$9,769,064	$881,151	$423,657	$11,073,872
Iowa	$4,839,681	$861,361	$126,588	$5,827,630
Wisconsin	$10,175,521	$541,918	$469,214	$11,186,653
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Illinois, the average salary decreased by 6.9 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Illinois	$63,527	$66,264	$58,595	$59,113	-6.9%
Indiana	$57,192	$53,357	$51,357	$51,456	-10%
Iowa	$48,757	$52,973	$51,076	$51,528	5.7%
Wisconsin	$56,239	$54,721	$54,687	$55,171	-1.9%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012, the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Illinois ranked eighth overall, or strongest, which was in the first tier of five.

Illinois has three major school unions: the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois School Boards Association.

Issues

• In reaction to state budget conversations, the Illinois Education Association said on July 17, 2009 that they were not content with Illinois House of Representatives members' preference to make cuts and borrow necessary funds. Illinois Education Association union president Ken Swanson said that the organization favored raising taxes to not only reduce the state's debt but to also continue to provide services.
• On July 13, 2009 a variety of organizations, including the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, released a statement in support of HB 174, a measure in support of "increasing the state income tax while reducing local property taxes." HB 174 passed the Illinois State Senate on June 30, 2009.

Government sector lobbying

See also: Illinois government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the Illinois School Boards Association.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Illinois
• Illinois
• Education Policy in the U.S.