Enrolment vs. staff count
CUSD 200, student enrollment is declining, while the number of administrators and teachers are up… and average salary has grown faster than inflation! No wonder salaries and benefits take the bulk of the budget. In fact, at the League of Women Voters candidate forum for CUSD 200 on 3/20/2017, Jim Mathieson said “84% of Operating income is spent on salaries and benefits.”
Notice the jump in staff numbers between 2001 and 2007. I have not found the report cards 2002 to 2006.
- Dr. Catalani was superintendant during that time.
- And the federal “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” was implemented during that time period.
Salary & operating cost per student over time vs. inflation
Looking at the average teacher salary, beginning teacher salary and operating cost per student.
Using an inflation calculator to see how the actual compares to what one would expect based on 1986 or 1998 start points adjusted for inflation. We see in 2016 all were well above what one would expect!
The difference between 2016 operating cost per student vs. expected 2016 operating cost per student based on the 1998 number adjusted for inflation is $3,251
Multiplying that by the k-12 enrollment in 2016 (12,560) is $40,832,560.
That’s $40 million. WOW.
Did they change the definition of “operating cost per student” or is this due to the increase in salaries, increase in the number of staff and decrease in the number of students? (1986 enrollment is a guess)
That’s only a difference of $25 million in 2016. That would still go a long way toward building maintenance!
How does District 200 compare to the state?

Looks like the whole state is going over this fiscal cliff together.
SOURCE DATA – Old paper school report cards
Sum data found on current on-line school report cards,
Missing grades were estimated based on the data that is given.
Cost data from the District profile page on School Report Card
https://iirc.niu.edu/Classic/District.aspx?districtid=19022200026
data from the district website
cusd200.org/ click on “Departments” -> “Business office” in the tabs,
then click “Enrollment Report” in the left column,
then “Enrollment Presentation 2012-2013” in the center
Enrollm ent Presentation 2012-2013 on page 16 of the pdf, we find:
series A is a high estimate, B most likely and C low estimate/
Actual for 2017 is between the most likely and low estimate.
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