Your Turn
Money makes the grade:
Rich school districts come in first
By JAMES P. DURKIN
F^ive years ago, when my wife and I
attended Illinois State University in
Bloomington-Normal, the school
held an annual "Teacher Recruitment
Day." They still do. And it's the same
story every spring: The line to apply for
teaching jobs at the wealthier school districts extends out the door to the parking
lot. Only a few people apply to teach at
poorer districts.
Why the disparity? Teachers want
three things: They want to work in districts that pay their employees well; they
want to work in districts that are safe; and
they want to work in communities where
parents take an interest in their children's
education.
In Illinois, these three variables are
met most often in wealthier school districts, where the spending per pupil is
highest.
It's true that money is not the answer to
everything. But anyone who contends that
money does not matter in school finance
is blind to the facts that even beginning
teachers realize: In the Chicagoland area,
many school districts with the highest test
scores are located in the property-rich
North Shore and northwest suburbs in
Cook County and in the wealthier areas of
DuPage and Lake counties.
In the south suburban Country Club
Hills school district — where I grew up
— the 1995 Illinois Goals Assessment
Program score for reading for eighth
graders was 209. The state average on a
500-point scale was 246. That district,
which has been on the state's financial
watch list for six of the last eight years,
spent $4,366 to educate each of its students. At the same time, in the wealthy
North Shore district of Kenilworth, the
reading score for eighth graders was 343.
At $8,844 per pupil, that district spent
twice what Country Club Hills spent on
each of its students.
Because wealthy school districts can
afford the best equipment and educational
facilities, and are able to pay higher
salaries, they can recruit the best teachers.
In 1995, for instance, Kenilworth paid its
teachers an average of $53,639 a year.
Country Club Hills, meanwhile, paid an
average of $31,418. That's more than
$20,000 less than Kenilworth, and lower
than the state average of $39,505.
Further, wealthier school districts can
afford to hire more teachers and are more
likely to have smaller class sizes. And any
teacher will tell you that a smaller class
size means more personalized instruction.
Because Illinois' school districts are
primarily funded by local property taxes
(on average 59 percent of the funding),
property wealth in large part determines
the ability of a community to financially
support public education. Children whose
parents live in a neighborhood with a rich
property tax base are lucky. A community
of $200,000 homes, or a district that lands
a shopping mall or a nuclear power plant
has hit the jackpot because it's able to
generate extra dollars due to the high market value of those properties.
Children in communities with less
property wealth don't fare as well. In fact,
the problem of school finance grows the
farther south one moves in the Chicago
area. According to my own analysis, the
Illinois State Board of Education's 1992
annual report on school funding showed
that 29 north and northwest suburban
Cook County elementary school districts
spent an average of $6,939 per pupil. The
board's report two years later showed that
22 south suburban districts averaged only
$4,641 per pupil.
Nearly 80 percent of school districts
spend less than the $3,893 per student recommended as an adequate level by a state
legislative task force.
This discrepancy is due in large part to
the lower property values in some poorer
communities.
Children and taxpayers of the region
should be furious with the present system
of school finance. On no grounds of funding fairness or common sense can one
argue that the schoolchildren of the
Chicago area — or the state — are receiving an equitable and adequate education.
Even when the Illinois General
Assembly allocates more money for education, the funding inequities remain.
Despite an additional $194.6 million provided by the state for this fiscal year, the
state's share of funding education has
declined from 48 percent in 1975 to 32
percent today. When the state's share fails
to keep pace with the rate of inflation,
property taxpayers pick up the slack.
Education is a collective benefit — not
just a service to the parents of school-age
children. It is meant to produce a literate
and intelligent citizenry. Educated children are more likely to lead productive
lives, pay taxes, respect property ownership and avoid the criminal justice system.
Simply put, money is part of the problem. That's long been obvious to those
who make a living providing education.
Now it's time for Gov. Jim Edgar and
the Illinois General Assembly to make
money part of the answer to improving
our schools.
James P. Durkin teaches American politics
part-time at the College of DuPage. He works
in Chicago for DynCorp and lives with his
wife, a first-grade teacher, in Woodridge.
December 1995 /Illinois Issues /31
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