West Central Reporter

Operational spending at Franklin Elementary School in Morgan is 40 percent less than the average Chicago public school.

Franklin Elementary School is in the Jacksonville No.  117 school district, where operational spending is $9,144 per year, per student.

In the Chicago Public School (CPS) District, the average school spends $15,120 per year, per student.

The number of students per classroom at Franklin Elementary School is actually fewer than at CPS. At Franklin Elementary School, there are 18 students per classroom, while at CPS there are 24.

However, at CPS, while schools are staffed for full enrollment, 27 percent of students are "chronically truant." That means adjusted for actual student attendance, CPS has 17.5 students per classroom.

At Franklin Elementary School, the truancy rate is 8.7.

The Chicago Teachers Union has called upon state taxpayers to increase state funding to CPS by 25 percent, or to $20,000 per student. City officials are considering filing a federal lawsuit to require the rest of Illinois to provide this funding.

Of students at Franklin Elementary School, 40.1 percent earned a passing score on the 2015 Illinois standardized K-12 test, or "PARCC" exam. On the same exam, 25 percent of CPS students earned a passing score.