Top 25 School Districts Doing the Most Deficit Spending in 2016

Nearly 60 percent of Illinois school districts are expected to be deficit spending during fiscal year 2016, according to new data from the Illinois State Board of Education.

In FY15, school districts issued $307.2 million in new debt in their operating funds, a decrease of $49.3 million from $356.5 million in FY14. While that’s almost a 14 percent drop over the year, the board of education says the majority of districts continue to rely on borrowing to generate cash flow.

Based on revenue and expenditure projections submitted by school districts for their FY16 budgets, the number of districts operating with deficits will increase slightly to 499 (58.6 percent) from 490 (57.2 percent) in FY15.

Here are 25 largest surplus- and deficit-spending school districts in 2016, according to latest available data.

The number of schools and students enrolled in each district as well as the operating expense per pupil (OEPP) are from Illinois Report Card. Cash reserves figures are from districts’ 2015 annual financial reports and show the total amount in unreserved funds as of June 30, 2015.

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