Burr Ridge D180 Defends High Spending Per Student

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge School District 180 spends far more money per student than its neighbors.

Last school year, District 180 reported expenditures of $29,858 per student.

The superintendent said the reporting of such numbers by Patch, along with other stories, serves to "cast aspersions" on the community.

Patch checked 10 other area elementary school districts and the second highest was La Grange District 105, at $21,953. The lowest was Western Springs District 101, at $13,060.

An analysis by District 180 resident Alan Hruby showed the local district was the third highest among 346 elementary school districts in Illinois.

Even though District 180 is in wealthy Burr Ridge, it has a high percentage of low-income students – 88 percent as of last year. That's because many of its students live in government-subsidized housing outside of Burr Ridge.

Unlike many schools, District 180 gets money each year from the federal government – known as "impact aid" – because of Argonne National Laboratory, part of which is within the district's boundaries.

When the laboratory acquired the land more than seven decades ago, that meant a big loss in property tax money for local government bodies.

The district says it receives about $770,000 a year in federal money, or nearly $4 million since 2018.

The district's superintendent, Thomas Schneider, has taken leadership roles in two national groups of districts that lobby for the money they lost in property tax income.

In an email to Patch, Schneider said construction costs are included in the per-student number, putting the district's number higher.

However, the state says capital outlay for things like facilities, property and major equipment purchases are excluded from per-student spending numbers.

Schneider said a much larger portion of District 180's budget comes from state and federal sources, rather than property taxes, unlike other districts.

Last year, the district received $9 million from local property taxpayers. That portion brings $18,879 per student, with the rest coming from state and federal sources, according to the district.

Even at that level, District 180 is still above most districts in its per-student spending. The state average for per-student spending from all sources is $16,100.

"Our spending does not result in an undue stress on local taxpayers," Schneider said in the email. "In fact, our district is one of very few that has maintained our educational programming, improved school buildings and maintained facilities and has not asked taxpayers for a tax rate referendum in over 40 years. Taxpayers in our district are happy with that high level of responsible financial management."

A referendum 15 years ago, he said, did not increase the tax rate, only maintained it.

In his email, Schneider questioned the reason for a story comparing District 180's spending to others.

"I would ask the readers of the Patch what it is that makes our students different in the eyes of this Patch reporter? Why is this news and why would any reader support such clearly biased coverage," he said. "Our CCSD180 students may never be worthy enough for this Patch reporter. But this community and I believe that they are. I will not stand by quietly while this reporter attempts to diminish our students or cast aspersions on the CCSD 180 Burr Ridge community."

Schneider pointed to the reporter's job with the conservative Illinois Policy Institute for a few months eight years ago.

"There’s no winning with this Illinois Policy Institute-trained Patch reporter," he said.

Schneider also took issue with Patch's story last August about his travel as superintendent. A Patch analysis found that the district spent $31,114 on his travel over 2½ years to places such as Washington and winter destinations such as New Orleans, Miami, San Diego, Tampa and Orlando.

The travel is related to the groups that lobby for more money to make up for lost property taxes.

"This Patch reporter criticizes the district when we spend a relatively small amount of travel dollars to bring in several hundreds of thousands of additional Impact Aid dollars," Schneider said.

Schneider is retiring in June after 16 years with the district. He makes $299,495, including a recent raise of $16,000.

His pay works out to $622 a student. The district's latest enrollment is 481; it has plunged in recent years.

Schneider makes far more than superintendents in most districts, even those with much higher enrollments. At the same time, his longevity is considerably greater.

In December, Hruby, the District 180 resident, emailed the district with a presentation of the per-student numbers.

“As part of your service, you have to make decisions that touch not only the lives of students but those of the community that supports them as well," Hruby told the board. "The common thread in these decisions ultimately requires a Solomonic balancing of the cost of whatever choice you are considering against its anticipated benefit. I do not envy you in that task.”

He also wrote, "(I)s there no point of diminishing returns for taxation? No point at which an incremental dollar of taxes, or ten dollars, or a hundred or maybe even more, no point at which these dollars might serve a higher need in the nest eggs of the taxpayers rather than in the coffers of their school district?"

Hruby said he received no response from board members.

Here is the per-student spending for area school districts last year:

Source: Illinois Report Card

Here is the email that Patch received from Thomas Schneider, superintendent of Burr Ridge School District 180:

This Patch reporter criticizes the district when we spend a relatively small amount of travel dollars to bring in several hundreds of thousands of additional Impact Aid dollars. Then this same Patch reporter criticizes the district when we spend those additional earned dollars on students.

There’s no winning with this Illinois Policy Institute-trained Patch reporter.

There is a minimum operating cost which has to be accounted for when providing education in a school district of two schools and 450 or so students in DuPage County. Fortunately, there is another district in DuPage County with two schools and approximately the same number (450 or so) students to provide a comparison.

Our district and this nearly identical district spend about the same amount on students. It is clear that what we are spending is just the basic operational cost to run a district of our size in DuPage County.

But there are two other considerations which actually make our district a better deal for the local taxpayer. One, our per pupil expenditure is increased as last year’s construction costs are included (so actually our per pupil without construction and one-time ESSR grant funds would be less) and, two, a much larger portion of the dollars our district spends come from State and Federal revenue sources (not local property taxes) when compared to this other district.

Our spending does not result in an undue stress on local taxpayers. As you can see from this chart below, the per student spending amount has increased as the number of students enrolled has decreased. But the per student burden on local tax payers has not. Over five years, the amount the district collected was restrained to the rate of inflation as a result of the tax cap. The increase in the per student expenditure number is driven not by new taxes but fewer students.

(Using 2017 enrollment with 2022's property tax income, per-student revenue was $13,380, a $1,419 per-student increase over five years.)

In fact, our district is one of very few that has maintained our educational programming, improved school buildings and maintained facilities, and has not asked taxpayers for a tax rate referendum increase in over 40 years. (The referendum 15 years ago did not increase, only maintained the current tax rate.) Taxpayers in our district are happy with that high level of responsible financial management.

Finally, if there are two other districts spending more than CCSD 180 and another one with nearly identical spending in the Patch readership area (actually sixth in spending), I would ask the readers of the Patch what it is that makes our students different in the eyes of this Patch reporter? Why is this news and why would any reader support such clearly biased coverage?

Our CCSD180 students may never be worthy enough for this Patch reporter. But this community and I believe that they are. I will not stand by quietly while this reporter attempts to diminish our students or cast aspersions on the CCSD 180 Burr Ridge community.

We believe our well-supported, successfully-run school district with high parent approval ratings, exceptional family supports, ever-improving academics, a myriad of educational opportunities for students, and no tax increase in over 40 years is a good thing for local residents.