Education appropriations per FTE in Illinois continue to be an outlier at roughly twice the U.S. average and 59.9% above 2000 levels (the U.S. high point). The significant increase in appropriations over the last decade is driven largely by the state’s efforts to address its historically underfunded state retirement pension system.
In 2019, 35.3% of all education appropriations in Illinois went to its state retirement pension system. This share fell slightly to 34.6% in 2024. Of the $2.14 billion in pension payments in 2024, 77.9% was used for past unfunded liabilities, not current employees. This means that even after considering additional funding from local governments, over one quarter (27.0%) of all education appropriations in Illinois are now spent on past pension obligations and are not available for use in 2024. This translates to $6,881 per FTE student, more than the entire per-FTE appropriations in Arizona, Delaware, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
A SHEF Issue Brief on Illinois from the 2018 SHEF report provides more detail on the funding situation in Illinois over time.