Subscriber Special: New 'Minimum Wage' for IL Educators

June 4, 2018 10:00 AM

"Illinois teachers are starting their three-month summer

break. But when it comes to teacher salaries,

there’s no break for taxpayers.

How many six-figure educators are in your school district?

Using our interactive mapping tool, quickly review (by ZIP code) the 30,000 Illinois educators who make more than $100,000 in salary or pension payments.

Just click a pin and scroll down to see the results rendered in the chart beneath the map.

Illinois legislators refuse to cap the payouts for the most highly compensated educators in the system. The system is burdened by unsustainable salary and pension costs. By our calculation, the equivalent of $1 out of $3 state income tax dollars is paid out to retired educators.

For 30,000 Illinois educators, the "minimum wage" is $100,000 . Nearly 20,000 of these educators are currently working, while the other 11,766 are retired – pulling down six-figure pensions. These highly compensated educators cost taxpayers $3.7 billionannually.

Consider a few examples:

Troy Paraday made $407,145 as the superintendent of Calumet CSD 155. Meanwhile, nearly 70 percent of the district's students are from low-income families and just 16 percent are considered ready for the next level.

Joyce Carmine, former superintendent of Park Forest SD 163, retired in 2017 after securing the top educator salary in the state. Carmine’s salary rose from $81,382 (2000) to $398,229 (2016). Carmine’s first year retirement: $290,526 (2017).

Six retired educators received more than $300,000 in annual pension payoutslast year including Lawrence Wyllie from Lincoln Way CHSD 210 ($331,086); Henry Bangser from New Trier Township HSD 203 ($321,834); Gary Catalani from Community Unit SD 200 ($320,403) and more.