Cheat Sheet: Chicago Public Schools

    Cut through the rhetoric. Here are the facts. CPS Revenues and Expenditures Total revenues: $5,534,664,416 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total local revenues: $2,508,887,449 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total state revenues: $1,906,809,466 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total federal revenues: $1,118,976,501 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total expenditures 2011: $5,680,099,797 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Chicago public schools will drain their cash reserves this year and will face a $1 billion shortfall during the...

Cut through the rhetoric. Here are the facts.

CPS Revenues and Expenditures

• Total revenues: $5,534,664,416 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• Total local revenues: $2,508,887,449 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• Total state revenues: $1,906,809,466 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• Total federal revenues: $1,118,976,501 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• Total expenditures 2011: $5,680,099,797 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• Chicago public schools will drain their cash reserves this year and will face a $1 billion shortfall during the following school year (source Illinois Policy Institute)

Spending per pupil 2011 

• Net operating expenditures: $4,776,700,296 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• 9 month average daily attendance: 350,826 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• Net operating expenditures per pupil: $13,616 (source Ilearn/ISBE)
• CPS spent $8,047 per pupil in 2000. That number reached an all-time record of $13,616 in 2011.

Teacher salary

• After adjusting for the cost of living, CPS teachers are overpaid by 31% when compared to public school teachers in large cities in non-collective-bargaining states (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• Average teacher salary: $71,236 (source IIRC)
• Average teacher salary: $74,839 (source CPS)
• Average charter school teacher salary: $49,000 (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• Median salary for a Chicagoan with a bachelor’s degree: $48,866 (source Census)

Pensions

• The Chicago teachers’ pension fund has only 32% of the money it should have in the bank today (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• The average starting pension for a Chicago teacher with 30+ years of experience was $42,972 in 2000. This number soared to $77,496 by 2011. That’s an 80% increase (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• Teachers with 30+ years of experience who retired in 2011 receive a pension worth more than $1.6 million (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• CPS pension contributions will more than triple in FY 2014 (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• CPS retirement costs will eat up nearly half of the education funding Chicago receives from the state by FY 2014 (source Illinois Policy Institute)

Graduation rates 2011

• Graduation rate: 60.6% (source CPS press release)
• Graduation rate for Chicago charter schools: 76% (source CPS)
• Graduation rate for CPS citywide: 58% (source CPS)
• A 2006 study found that for every 100 Chicago public high school freshmen, only six get four-year college degrees. Among African-American and Hispanic boys, the number is three of 100 (source Illinois Policy Institute)

Other

• Chicago has the shortest school year in the nation when compared to the largest metro areas (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• As a result of the three-year pension holiday that expires in 2013, CPS retirement expenditures will climb by nearly $500 million between 2013 and 2014 (source Illinois Policy Institute)
• Average teacher experience: 13.7 years (source IIRC)
• From kindergarten through high school, a Chicago child will receive nearly 3 years less instructional time than a peer student in Houston. (source CPS)
• A 2004 study found that 39% of Chicago public school teachers send their own children to private schools (source Reeder Report)
• The average Chicago Public School teacher scored a 19 on the ACT test if they took it when attending high school (source Reeder Report)
• Over the last two decades, CTU made more than 1,500 campaign contributions totaling nearly $10 million (source Illinois Policy Institute)