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Illinois state senators on May 15 heard testimony on a real
bright spot in the General Assembly this year.
But local government employees with some extraordinary paychecks are trying to
snuff it out.
House Bill 3053 is also known as the Classrooms First Act. That’s because it
prioritizes spending on teachers, supplies and services that students need over
its taxpayer-funded opponents: school district superintendents.
Illinois is the nation’s only state to spend more than $1 billion a year on
“general administration” costs in education, according to U.S. Census Bureau
data. That’s because Illinois has too many school districts serving too few
schools and too few students.
The state’s 852 school districts intercept education dollars before they reach
the classroom. About a quarter of those school districts serve as an extra
administrative layer atop a single school. And the average Illinois school
district serves 2,400 students, the sixth-lowest average in the nation. If
Illinois’ average district enrollment was on par with Virginia – a state with
similar demographics and better educational outcomes – it would have just 210
districts, 644 fewer than today.
Enter the Classrooms First Act: it would set up a statewide commission with a
goal of reducing the number of Illinois school districts by 25%. After the
commission’s study is complete, its recommendations would go on local ballots,
and voters would get to decide whether school district consolidation would be
the right fit for their community.
With around two-thirds of most property tax bills going to local school
districts, and no boogeyman of “killing a mascot” (schools have those, not
school districts), the appetite for more effective ways to spend education
dollars is strong.
But to hundreds of Illinois school district administrators, that doesn’t sound
like a good idea. They filed witness slips opposing the bill.
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A crosscheck of those witness slips with publicly
available salary information show why: more than 130 are taking home
six-figure paychecks, with 26 making more than $200,000. Over the
course of a career, salaries like that in Illinois mean pension
benefits easily reaching $2 million to $6 million over the course of
their retirements.
Here are the district details of just a few highly compensated
administrators who filed in opposition to the Classrooms First Act,
with salary information pulled from transparency nonprofit Open the
Books.
Keep in mind that Illinois’ average number of students per district
is among the lowest in the nation:
River Trails School District 26 Superintendent Nancy Wagner makes
more than $209,000 annually. Her district, located in Mount
Prospect, serves 1,552 students, or 35% less than the state average.
Three handsomely paid administrators working for Gurnee School
District 56 – Superintendent Colleen Pacatte ($194,560), Director of
Business Sheila Peckler ($171,515) and Director of Pupil Services
Tamara Kroc ($150,794) – filed in opposition. Their district serves
2,080 students, which is 13% lower than the state average.
Lemont High School District 210 Superintendent Mary Ticknor makes
more than $226,000. Her district oversees one high school with 1,418
students, or 40% lower than the state average.
Finally, Benjamin School District 25 Superintendent Philip Ehrhardt
takes home a whopping $270,000 salary. His district in suburban West
Chicago serves 618 students, 70% lower than the state average, split
between a middle school and an elementary school. He is set to
retire in June.
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