While the U.S. is one of the most educated countries in the world, it doesn’t provide the same quality elementary school or secondary school education to all students. In many states, more affluent school districts receive a greater amount of funding per student than poorer districts.
Discrepancies between the rich and poor have been exacerbated even more this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. As states decide whether their school districts will have in-person learning this fall, studies show that low-income students will suffer the greatest “learning loss” due to partial or total remote learning. One contributing factor is that people in low-income districts are less likely to have the technological resources they need.
States that provide equitable funding to all school districts can help prevent poor students from having lower graduation rates, lower rates of pursuing higher education and smaller future incomes than their wealthy peers. The difference is dramatic: College graduates have $460 - $1,154 higher median weekly earnings than people with a high school diploma and no college experience, depending on the degree.
Illinois has the 4th least equitable school districts in the U.S. overall, but some districts within the state are fairer than others. To find out where school funding is distributed most equitably, WalletHub scored 849 districts in Illinois based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil. Read on for the district ranking and a complete description of our methodology.
Main Findings
Note: For visual purposes, we included only the top 7 school districts by enrollment from each category. Rank 1 on the “Expenditures Ranking” means highest expenditures and Rank 1 on “Income Ranking” means lowest income.
Most & Least Equitable School Districts in Illinois
| Rank* | School District | Score | Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools per Pupil | Income by School District |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Putnam County Community Unit School District No 535 | 0.03 | $14,974 | $65,439 |
| 2 | New Berlin Community Unit School District 16 | 0.18 | $11,611 | $80,372 |
| 3 | Athens Community Unit School District 213 | 0.39 | $10,311 | $86,042 |
| 4 | Rankin School District 98 | 0.64 | $13,709 | $71,538 |
| 5 | Joliet Township High School District 204 | 0.81 | $16,921 | $56,220 |
| 6 | Salt Fork Community Unit School District 512 | 0.86 | $16,898 | $56,289 |
| 7 | Komarek School District 94 | 0.91 | $15,655 | $61,813 |
| 8 | Tri Point Community Unit School District 6J | 0.93 | $17,845 | $52,011 |
| 9 | Deer Park Community Consolidated School District 82 | 1.09 | $15,378 | $64,375 |
| 10 | Triad Community Unit School District 2 | 1.15 | $11,131 | $81,875 |
| 11 | Aurora West Unit School District 129 | 1.38 | $14,703 | $65,758 |
| 12 | Lee Center Community Unit School District 271 | 1.38 | $16,933 | $57,614 |
| 13 | Willow Springs School District 108 | 1.51 | $16,805 | $56,277 |
| 14 | Ford Heights School District 169 | 1.51 | $22,886 | $29,094 |
| 15 | Tolono Community Unit School District 7 | 1.55 | $11,897 | $78,188 |
| 16 | Homewood School District 153 | 1.64 | $14,363 | $67,102 |
| 17 | Lebanon Community Unit School District 9 | 1.71 | $15,921 | $60,092 |
| 18 | Brookwood School District 167 | 1.72 | $16,365 | $58,099 |
| 19 | Robein School District 85 | 1.81 | $15,045 | $63,942 |
| 20 | Harlem Unit School District 122 | 1.96 | $16,442 | $57,601 |
| 21 | Palos Heights School District 128 | 2.17 | $12,559 | $77,691 |
| 22 | East Maine School District 63 | 2.27 | $15,082 | $63,471 |
| 23 | Tri City Community Unit School District 1 | 2.27 | $14,324 | $69,868 |
| 24 | Belvidere Community Unit School District 100 | 2.33 | $14,653 | $65,348 |
| 25 | Prairieview Ogden Community Consolidated School District 197 | 2.44 | $13,379 | $74,205 |
| 26 | Tonica Community Consolidated School District 79 | 2.48 | $15,548 | $61,250 |
| 27 | Champaign Community Unit School District 4 | 2.61 | $17,606 | $51,963 |
| 28 | Le Roy Community Unit School District 2 | 2.62 | $13,547 | $73,571 |
| 29 | Grant Community Consolidated School District 110 | 2.75 | $16,456 | $57,012 |
| 30 | East Peoria Community High School District 309 | 3.12 | $17,864 | $54,606 |
*1=Most Equitable
Methodology
In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,919 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.
For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.
The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from of the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.