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 The goal of public education should be to ensure that every
student has the opportunity to maximize his or her full potential.
Unfortunately, the Prairie State currently falls short of this goal because of a
top-heavy education bureaucracy diverting resources that should rightly be going
to classrooms for teachers and students.
Illinois is the only state that spent more than $1 billion on district-level
administrative costs in 2017, the most recent year of data available from the
U.S. Census Bureau. California has three times as many students, but spent
nearly 40% less than Illinois on district administration. This spending only
represents costs of the superintendent and school board. It does not include
administrative spending within schools, such as on guidance counselors or
principals.
 Illinois spends $581 per student on district-level administration, more than
double the national average of $230.62. If Illinois reduced its general
administrative spending to the national average per student, it would save $708
million in unnecessary costs that could be reinvested in classrooms to improve
student outcomes or returned to overburdened property taxpayers.
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The reason for this overspending is simple:
Illinois has too many school districts serving too few students.
Four other states have student populations above 2 million, and each
of them serves significantly more students for each administrative
body overseeing its schools.
Illinois must consolidate school districts to
reduce unnecessary administrative spending. Each district comes with
highly paid superintendents, support staff and costly facilities. If
districts serve more schools and more students, they can achieve
economies of scale and greater efficiency without losing services.
State Rep. Rita Mayfield’s House Bill 4005 would put in motion a
plan to rightsize the number of districts to ensure education
dollars flow to classrooms instead of propping up administrative
bloat.
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