Tracking Crystal Lake High School District Spending from 2009-18

From one of Mark’s comments:

Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Operating Expense Per Pupil (OEPP), Crystal Lake High School District 155 (CHSD 155)

Year – OEPP – Percentage Increase or Decrease

2009 – $11,130

2010 – $11,844 – 6.4%

2011 – $11,911 – 0.6%

2012 – $13,086 – 9.9%

2013 – $13,436 – 2.7%

2014 – $14,618 – 8.8%

2015 – $15,530 – 6.2%

2016 – $15,021 – (3.3%)

2017 – $15,522 – 3.3%

2018 – $15,686 – 1.1%

2009 ($11,130) – 2018 ($15,686): 41%

2009 – 2018 Inflation: 17.05%

++++++++++

isbe.net/Pages/Operating-Expense-Per-Pupil.aspx

usinflationcalculator.com


Comments

Tracking Crystal Lake High School District Spending from 2009-18 — 23 Comments

  1. From the obsessive compulsive disorder, prodigious researcher you mean? Poor miserable lonely soul…Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  2. Crazy.

    Consolidation of districts, elimination of redundant positions, salary freezes for all, cutback in benefit costs, haircuts for many are long overdue. School costs are destroying home values by virtue of their major bite on real estate tax bills.

  3. Replace all those teachers and admin. with low cost robots.

    Go to my mannequin.com website to check out the potential savings.

  4. The Illinois Report Card:

    – reports OEPP as “Operating Spending Per Pupil.”

    – reports OEPP as “Operational Spending” under “Per Student Spending.”

    – reports the data one year later than ISBE, and in whole numbers. So for instance, CHSD 155 Operational Spending of $13,436 in 2014 in the Illinois Report Card, corresponds to $13,435.56 on the 2013 ISBE OEPP-PCTC report.

    http://www.illinoisreportcard.com/district.aspx?districtid=44063155016&source=environment&source2=perstudentspending

    +++++++++++

    Per the Illinois Report Card at the above URL:

    “Instructional Spending Per Pupil includes only the activities directly dealing with the teaching of students or the interaction between teachers and students.

    Operating Spending Per Pupil includes all costs for overall operations in this school’s district, including Instructional Spending, but excluding summer school, adult education, capital expenditures, and long-term debt payments.”

  5. Please keep in mind that total spending per pupil is much higher.

    Operating expenditures leaves out, among other things, debt service on bonds.

  6. What a terrific waste.

    Do local schools get these too:

    A southeastern Pennsylvania high school will be hosting a drag show — during school hours — on May 22, as part of an all-day event.

    The program at Landsdowne’s Penn Wood High School, titled “Coming Home,” is sponsored by the school Gay-Straight Alliance. The drag show portion of the event is slated for the afternoon “Singing and Runway Performances,” and is followed up with a “History of Drag” after a video presentation about the 1969 Stonewall Riots.

    Source: https://www.thecollegefix.com/pennsylvania-high-school-to-host-drag-show-during-school-hours/

  7. Oh, and by the way, the McHenry public library features a very ‘bad’ 6’2” transgendered employee who does the kids’ books.

    NOT KIDDING!

  8. I feel it is relevant to provide the bell schedule at Maine West High School. Any obsessive compulsive disorder, prodigious researcher out there who can provide that information to the immense readership of this sunshine, cat’s meow blog? Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  9. OEPP also does not include the accruing liability for pensions and OPEBs (Other Post Employment Benefits).

    While Illinoisans still feel false security that unfunded pension liabilities will not be shifted onto property taxpayers, OPEBs have always been the sole responsibility of property tax payers.

    Woodstock D200 contract provides that:

    OPEBs start at age 55 retirement with, at the very least, 100% free Maybach-level health Insurance.

    This is a minimum 10 year taxpayer obligation.

    Age 55 retirees may go back to work the next day and collect full (spiked ) pensions while working in the jobs from which they just retired.

    Prior to retirement they only paid 10% of insurance premiums, at early retirement 0%.

  10. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp

    Interesting stats on comparative worldwide primary& secondary spending per pupil.

    During years 2005-2015, inflation-adjusted spending per pupil in US only rose 5%.

    While not the exact 10 years covered by Mark’s analysis, it shows that inflation over a decade of spending per pupil in Crystal Lake Illinois (and Woodstock, which is worse) FAR exceeded the average increases in the rest of the country.

  11. FY 2018 CHSD 155 CAFR

    Revenues (pdf page 26) $138,026,988

    Enrollment (pdf page 8) 6,113

    Revenue per student $22,579.

    ++++++++++++

    Expenses (pdf page 20) $136,700,595

    Enrollment 6,113

    Expenses per student $22,362.

    ++++++++++

    There are various measures of revenue, expenses, and enrollment.

    Those are just two examples.

  12. So what do we do about it?

    The school board is captured, the voters only pretend they care, the NWH has no idea how to report objectively for the community, and the Chicago Trib could care less about McHenry.

    Candidates are too week to stand on their own convictions, so they join with other to share signage.

    In the end, the winner seems to go to the candidates with the most visible signs.

  13. Operating Expense Per Pupil (OEPP) at CHSD 155 was $15,686 in 2018, per the 2018 ISBE OEPP-PCTC report.

    The difference between $22,362 overall expenses and $15,686 OEPP is mostly attributed to the state annual contribution to the TRS pension fund on behalf of CHSD 155.

    Once again, more state money contributed to pensions on behalf of CHSD 155, means less state money is available to CHSD 155 for other expenditures.

    +++++++++++

    CHSD 155 FY 2018 Expenses (pdf page 20 of the CHSD 155 FY 2018 CAFR)

    Instruction – $58,663,477

    Support services – $40,666,034

    Community services – $1,223

    Payments to other governmental units – $298,515

    State on-behalf contributions to TRS – $36,515,443

    Interest and fees on debt – $555,903

    Total expenses – $136,700,595

  14. There seem to be no political solutions in Illinois, only political problems.

    Because we are aware of eminclake observations, we should look for solutions presented due to those corrupted conditions.

    The only solutions available to taxpayers seem to be judicial review.

    Citizens may comb through budgets and CAFRs and use FOIA to garner evidence of illegal taxation.

    It is more common that one might assume.

    Maybe we should calibrate our assumptions to fit the reality before our eyes: property tax rates(=public spending relative to the means of the community) reflecting contempt for the community.

    Public spenders who suffer no adverse consequences for lavishing rewards on their friends at expense of non-friends tend to be complacent.

    If taxpayers spend resources on discovery and prosecution of code violations in public spending, consequences introduced to bad actors may have a chilling effect on bad actors.

  15. Does anybody know the total amount of students in District 155 in school year 2018-2019 and the “TOTAL” overall costs of the District? With that info, what is the “cost per student”?

  16. CHSD 155 FY 2018 (covers school year 2017 – 2018)

    Overall costs aka overall expenses (pdf page 20, Statement of Activities) – $136,700,595

    Total number of students in the district aka Enrollment (pdf page 134) – 6,113

    Cost per student aka expenses per student – $22,362.

    ++++++++++

    2018-2019 school year enrollment figures are not yet calculated.

    Per ISBE, enrollment figures are based on the number of students enrolled as of the last school day in September.

    Monday, September 30, 2019 has not yet arrived.

    That is known as the “fall enrollment count.”

    http://www.isbe.net/Pages/Fall-Enrollment-Counts.aspx

    ++++++++++

    Even if the school year 2018-2019 fall enrollment was available, the fiscal year that corresponds with that school year ends June 30, 2019, and the FY 2019 CAFR will probably be released by the district sometime in December 2019.

    Thus the latest available statistics are for school year 2017 – 2018, which corresponds with fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018).

    ++++++++++

    The School Year 2017 – 2018 fall enrollment count in CHSD 155 was 6,113.

    That’s on pdf page 134 of the CHSD FY 2018 CAFR.

    +++++++++++

    The overall expenses for the district are calculated two ways, each producing a different total.

    Per the CHSD FY 2018 CAFR, for 2018:

    1. Statement of Activities, total expenses – $136,700,595

    2. Comparative Summary of Expenditures, total – $137,996,301

    ++++++++++++++

    As a side note, “enrollment” is almost always higher than “attendance.”

    To that point, this from the Average Student Enrollment chart in the CHSD 155 FY 2018 CAFR (pdf page 140).

    For school year 2017 – 2018:

    Average Daily Attendance, all months – 5,599.78

    Average Daily Enrollment, all months – 6,113.00

  17. According to Mark: Cost per student aka expenses per student – $22,362.

    What were “Cost per student” in the previous 10, 20 years? What might be the trend? What is the District doing, working on to reduce this cost each and every year? What do school districts do, such as in the private sector, to CONTINUALLY work on driving down costs? Streamlining, removing redundancy, eliminating waste?

    Do they do anything at all to lower cost per student? What do McHenry County Districts do with regard to looking at Districts around the Nation with lower cost per student AND better student results to benchmark, learn from them and adapt? Anything?

    Homeowners in McHenry County ought to demand lowering of overall “cost per student” while also getting better student measured results.

  18. I tend to compare D155 to Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, as I was fortunate enough to go through that system.
    FCPS has always provided an exceptionally high quality education, with many of its high schools consistently ranking in the top 100 nationwide.
    I realize it’s not a completely fair comparison, but it does serve as a benchmark to show how much more can be provide for the same or even less cost.
    It is a county-wide system that provides its services equitably across its geography.
    https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps
    FCPS reports an OEPP of $15,293.
    The point is, better governance can lead to superior education at a comparable or even lower cost.
    Our state and even our community lacks the resolve to do what would be really uncomfortable to fix this.
    The community part is akin to NIMBY and roads; the haves don’t want to share with the have-nots. (I’m in the “haves” sector.)
    Nor do the “efficient” districts want to be hosed by the fiscally irresponsible districts.
    Alas, a different tact is indeed needed, one suggested by Susan.
    What Susan proposes takes a lot of effort, the kind of effort perhaps an emerging fiscal activist might be willing to take on.
    It ain’t gonna be easy.

  19. I tend to compare D155 to Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, as I was fortunate enough to go through that system.

    FCPS has always provided an exceptionally high quality education, with many of its high schools consistently ranking in the top 100 nationwide.

    I realize it’s not a completely fair comparison, but it does serve as a benchmark to show how much more can be provide for the same or even less cost.

    It is a county-wide system that provides its services equitably across its geography.
    http://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps

    FCPS reports an OEPP of $15,293.

    The point is, better governance can lead to superior education at a comparable or even lower cost.

    Our state and even our community lacks the resolve to do what would be really uncomfortable to fix this.

    The community part is akin to NIMBY and roads; the haves don’t want to share with the have-nots. (I’m in the “haves” sector.)

    Nor do the “efficient” districts want to be hosed by the fiscally irresponsible districts.

    Alas, a different tact is indeed needed, one suggested by Susan.

    What Susan proposes takes a lot of effort, the kind of effort perhaps an emerging fiscal activist might be willing to take on.

    It ain’t gonna be easy

  20. Could somebody please post the bell schedule of all District 155 high schools? This is very relevant to the discussion. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwww…

  21. According to the District’s web site, there is a strategic plan with 5 goals. There is no evidence at the web site that the District has a strategy, or plan, or goals, or ONGOING efforts to reduce costs per student. How pathetic. But, maybe typical of government type entities. Don’t do anything to reduce costs, just raise taxes on homeowners and businesses. What a difference from the private sector, businesses and corporations who need to reduce, control costs and innovate, be more efficient ELSE perish.

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