Steve Willson read the study of cost per student published by the Illinois Policy Institute.
Then he went to the source and discovered the cost per student
Willson discovered the cost per student considerably higher.
Here is what he sent me:
The dollars per student according to the Illinois Policy Institute was $20,989.
However, the AFR lists “Total Governmental Activities Expenses” of $145,014,268 and enrollment of 5,203.
That works out to $27,871 per pupil.
That’s 33% higher than the Illinois Policy Institute number.
If you add the amount of debt that was retired which is not technically an “expense” but comes out of property taxes, the total is $145,999,268, which is $28,061 per pupil. That’s 34% higher than the Illinois Policy Institute number.
Some other interesting facts.
Property taxes were up 5.1% in 2025 and enrollment was down 2.6%. (Enrollment is down 26% since the maximum in 2010).
The pupil/teacher ratio fell from 14.0 in 2024 to 13.8 in 2025. It was 15.4 back in 2016, and 17.2 back in 2005.
Also, last year the District increased debt from $11.635 million to $23.52 million.
