ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
Illinois school district consolidation provides path to efficiency, lower tax burdens
by Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner
May 2016

Illinois has the most units of local government of any state in the country. Many of its nearly 7,000 units of local government are overlapping, duplicative and contribute to Illinois’ growing debt, waste and corruption. These local units of government are also responsible for Illinois’ growing property taxes, which already rank as the third-highest in the country. Many of the state’s local governments could be consolidated – which would help to reduce their negative effects. Among the key candidates for consolidation are the state’s 859 local school districts, which consume nearly two-thirds of the $27 billion in local property taxes that local governments across Illinois collect each year. Illinois has the fifth-largest number of school districts in the nation. READ MORE