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REPORTS

REPORT ONE: The expense of maintaining local control.

REPORT TWO: Income Tax vs Property Tax for School Funding

REPORT THREE: If you pay it they will spend.

REPORT FOUR: Proposed reform legislation

REPORT FIVE: Alternative solutions to education finance reform

STATS & TABLES

The $200,000 Club: Illinois' highest paid public school employees

DeKalb County's Top 50: highest paid local public school employees

DeKalb County School Unit Comparisons

Comparing Tax Bills: How DeKalb County stacks up with other communities.

Comparing Illinois: State by State Individual Income Taxes

Comparing Illinois: State by State Corporate Income Taxes

Comparing Illinois: State by State Sales Taxes

Comparing Illinois: State by State Gasoline Taxes

Follow The Money: Illinois' Top Campaign Contributors

 

 

    
 School Finance Reform

 

Comparing DeKalb County School Districts
 (2003-2004 School Year)

The following charts and information pertaining to local school finances were obtained from the 2003-2004 Illinois Reports cards that each public unit school district is required to submit annually to the Illinois State Board of Education. Estimates on the prices of new and existing homes were obtained from information provided by the DeKalb Association of Area Realtors.

  DEKALB SYCAMORE SANDWICH GENOA KK SOMONAUK HINCKLEY INDIAN CR HIAWATHA
Enrollment 5372 3045 2461 1728 988 927 893 510
Number of Teachers 342 197 150 96 61 69 75 44
Teacher Salary $47,547 $49,676 $36,495 $35,272 $43,000 $46,153 $38,628 $38,729
Administrator Salary $81,490 $90,475 $70,432 $79,207 $68,883 $78,064 $78,074 $84,867
EAV Per Pupil $108,183 $93,602 $88,274 $85,797 $104,091 $131,341 $132,157 $101,303
Total School Tax Rate Per $100 $5.60 $5.24 $3.43 $4.80 $4.28 $5.15 $4.67 $4.49
TOTAL REVENUE DEKALB SYCAMORE SANDWICH GENOA KK SOMONAUK HINCKLEY INDIAN CR HIAWATHA
Local Property Tax $28,223,937 $14,607,893 $7,137,134 $6,167,554 $4,049,721 $6,101,080 $4,894,769 $2,571,007
Other Local Funding $2,882,151 $2,302,125 $725,167 $1,474,385 $450,821 $415,220 $392,838 $245,421
General State Aid $7,308,821 $4,817,139 $4,211,823 $3,097,324 $1,450,062 $776,988 $912,779 $936,530
Other State Funding $3,557,386 $2,542,425 $1,357,902 $2,329,267 $806,719 $486,561 $468,631 $300,177
Federal Funding $1,705,716 $472,969 $358,970 $274,988 $169,271 $161,824 $209,685 $129,917
Total Revenue $43,678,011 $24,742,551 $13,790,996 $13,343,518 $6,926,594 $7,941,673 $6,878,702 $4,183,052
PER PUPIL REVENUE DEKALB SYCAMORE SANDWICH GENOA KK SOMONAUK HINCKLEY INDIAN CR HIAWATHA
Local Property Tax $5,254 $4,797 $2,900 $3,569 $4,099 $6,582 $5,481 $5,041
Other Local Funding $537 $756 $295 $853 $456 $448 $440 $481
General State Aid $1,361 $1,582 $1,711 $1,792 $1,468 $838 $1,022 $1,836
Other State Funding $662 $835 $552 $1,348 $817 $525 $525 $589
Federal Funding $318 $155 $146 $159 $171 $175 $235 $255
Total Revenue $8,131 $8,126 $5,604 $7,722 $7,011 $8,567 $7,703 $8,202
TOTAL EXPENDITURES DEKALB SYCAMORE SANDWICH GENOA KK SOMONAUK HINCKLEY INDIAN CR HIAWATHA
Education $31,461,160 $17,749,828 $11,765,245 $7,140,738 $5,394,764 $5,528,314 $5,532,430 $3,359,355
Operations and Maintenance $4,011,041 $2,584,043 $1,131,285 $1,205,969 $426,434 $647,968 $691,763 $453,522
Transportation $2,330,903 $1,779,271 $923,992 $851,803 $315,569 $367,786 $392,482 $217,705
Bond And Interest $2,418,893 $2,132,013 $514,592 $1,140,594 $424,994 $800,850 $103,000 $145,611
Rent $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $122,143 $0 $0
Municipal Social Security $654,932 $612,382 $272,637 $262,223 $182,858 $136,911 $186,577 $92,112
Fire Prevention and Safety $25,411 $530,873 $561,416 $63,437 $0 $0 $70,761 $0
Site & Construction/Capital Imp $78,683 $0 $881,859 $4,284,327 $1,105,323 $0 $0 $0
Total Expenditures $40,981,023 $25,388,410 $16,051,026 $14,949,091 $7,849,942 $7,603,972 $6,977,013 $4,268,305
TOT. EXPENDITURE PER PUPIL DEKALB SYCAMORE SANDWICH GENOA KK SOMONAUK HINCKLEY INDIAN CR HIAWATHA
Education $5,857 $5,829 $4,781 $4,132 $5,460 $5,964 $6,195 $6,587
Operations and Maintenance $747 $849 $460 $698 $432 $699 $775 $889
Transportation $434 $584 $375 $493 $319 $397 $440 $427
Bond And Interest $450 $700 $209 $660 $430 $864 $115 $286
Rent $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $132 $0 $0
Municipal Social Security $122 $201 $111 $152 $185 $148 $209 $181
Fire Prevention and Safety $5 $174 $228 $37 $0 $0 $79 $0
Site & Construction/Capital Imp $15 $0 $358 $2,479 $1,119 $0 $0 $0
Total Expenditures $7,629 $8,338 $6,522 $8,651 $7,945 $8,203 $7,813 $8,369
2002-03 School Year Balance DEKALB SYCAMORE SANDWICH GENOA KK SOMONAUK HINCKLEY INDIAN CR HIAWATHA
Total Dollars $2,696,988 -$645,859 -$2,260,030 -$1,605,573 -$923,348 $337,701 -$98,311 -$85,253
Per Pupil $502.05 -$212.10 -$918.34 -$929.15 -$934.56 $364.29 -$110.09 -$167.16

 

This chart shows what the homeowner of a $150,000 home would pay in school property taxes for each of the school districts in DeKalb County.  A $150,000 home was selected because that is about the average selling price of an existing home in DeKalb County. The average selling price of a new construction home in the county is approximately $210,000. The breakdown for new construction is as follows ($210k house):

  • DeKalb                  $3,920

  • Somonauk             $2,996

  • Sandwich              $2,401

  • Hinckley-BR           $3,605

  • Sycamore              $3,668

  • Hiawatha               $3,143

  • Indian Creek          $3,269

  • Genoa-Kingston     $3,360
     

Total Property Tax Comparison



2003 Tax Rate

COMMUNITY Kirkland Sycamore Cortland DeKalb Genoa Malta Waterman
Total Tax Rate 8.84551 8.67221 8.39623 8.39207 8.26448 8.18828 8.0642
COMMUNITY   Hinckley Shabbona Somonauk Lee Kingston Sandwich
Total Tax Rate 8.01871 7.9667 7.79752 7.68949 7.62151 7.0315

The gap between State and Local Funding Per Student


 

  STATE AVG DEKALB SOMONAUK SANDWICH HINCKLEY SYCAMORE HIAWATHA INDIAN CR GKK
Local Property Tax 55.4% 64.62% 58.47% 51.75% 76.82% 59.04% 61.46% 71.16% 46.22%
Other Local Funding 6.1% 6.60% 6.51% 5.26% 5.23% 9.30% 5.87% 5.71% 11.05%
General State Aid 18.7% 16.73% 20.93% 30.54% 9.78% 19.47% 22.39% 13.27% 23.21%
Other State Funding 12.5% 8.14% 11.65% 9.85% 6.13% 10.28% 7.18% 6.81% 17.46%
Federal Funding 7.3% 3.91% 2.44% 2.60% 2.04% 1.91% 3.11% 3.05% 2.06%

Illinois State Board of Education, School Report Cards for the 2003-2004 school year.