In this brief, we examine an important but obscure form of state spending on K-12 education-state subsidies of school district pension costs. In 2018, this exceeded $19 billion across 23 states. To put that amount into perspective, 2018 federal spending on Title I programs was $15.8 billion. This revenue stream is often ignored in analyses of…

On February 24, 2017, all of the authors of the state-of-the-state manuscripts published in the "Journal of Education Finance" met in Cincinnati, Ohio, to participate in a roundtable discussion focused on recent legislative actions in 38 states. A majority of those papers were revised to reflect a final report on legislative actions…

Boosting early retirement in cash-strapped districts does not hurt students' math and reading scores, according to new studies released at the American Economic Association meeting, but pension-incentive programs may cost schools some of their most effective teachers. Separate studies of teachers in California, Illinois, and North Carolina paint a…

Teacher salary decisions are often made with little connection to the pension obligations they entail. In this paper, authors Marguerite Roza and Jessica Jonovski model the impacts of late-term raises on teacher pension obligations showing that on average each dollar raise triggers $10 to $16 in new taxpayer obligations. The authors provide…

This report, submitted in compliance with 105 ILCS 5/1A-4E, provides a discussion of the overall condition of education in Illinois. Information is included concerning student and teacher demographics; data on teacher and administrator licensure; federal, state, and local resources; and other data on Illinois education. The 2021 Condition of…

As public budgets have grown tighter over the past decade, states and school districts have sought ways to control the growth of spending. One increasingly common strategy employed to rein in costs is to offer experienced teachers with high salaries financial incentives to retire early. Although early retirement incentive (ERI) programs have been…

This past year has been unlike any in recent history. In March, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced Illinois to shift suddenly to remote learning for all students. This adjustment exposed the digital divide as a stark reality. One bright spot in the year occurred in May, when the Illinois' plan for career and technical education (CTE) received…

Chicago teachers voted last week to suspend a 7-day-old strike, sending some 350,000 students back to the classroom and paving the way for the teaching force to vote on a tentative contract. But for many in the Windy City, the contract has raised another potentially tall hurdle: how the cash-strapped district will manage to pay for it. District…

School business administrators are devoting a significant portion of their time to retirement-related issues. Describes the retirement systems in place in Illinois and provides some budgeting examples for retirements and early retirements of school district personnel. (MLF)

This report focuses on the group benefits available to Illinois public higher education employees. The study provides a perspective on the range of benefits and the differences in the administration of institutional benefits. Findings reveal the availability of retirement annuities that increase with each 10 years of service; optional retirement…

This study focuses on the benefits of early retirement as a policy to ease the adjustment process as public school districts and state universities encounter the problem of declining enrollments. Early retirement as one means of reduction in force, and as a means of saving money, has been adopted by 36 Illinois school districts. This paper…

This book is intended to make Illinois educators aware of the legal and financial aspects of their job, so that they may avoid legal pitfalls and become more efficient practitioners of their profession. Based on the premise that legal and financial matters are only means to the end of providing quality education for all students, the authors…

An overview is provided of the governance, organization, enrollment, programs, finances, facilities, legislation, and significant problems of the Illinois public community colleges. The first section provides a description of the organization of the 39 public community college districts, which comprise 50 colleges and five branch campuses. Next, a…

This handbook explains the legal principles underlying the Illinois public education system, thereby providing teachers, administrators, and school board members with an understanding of the nature of the public school as a social and governmental institution. It also considers the legal status of Illinois teachers by defining their rights,…