Conservatives in Illinois will soon be crying foul in response to a new Tribune investigation that found an "extraordinary number of public school teachers in the Chicago region earned $100,000 or more in 2009, straining school budgets and taxpayer wallets."  They will no doubt use the research to advance their longstanding complaints about public worker pay and "government waste."  In fact, the Tribune's findings are less an indication of bloat and more a reflection of our state's inequitable school funding system.

The frontpage Tribune article focuses on four percent of Illinois public school teachers who earn more than $100,000 annually, noting that "[a]ffluent suburban districts had the largest concentrations of six-figure teachers."  Reporter Diane Rado spends much of the piece highlighting the financial trouble facing some of these districts and only mentions the issue of student performance as an aside:

The highest-paying districts note that they are top performers that get accolades and national rankings, and they need to be competitive to attract top teachers as parents expect.

Indeed, consider this: The six districts that Rado mentions in the article all have high-schools that are ranked among the top forty statewide in terms of perfomance on standardized tests.  (There are 759 public high schools in Illinois.) 

For instance, Hinsdale Township High School District 86 -- where Rado notes that "43 percent of high school district teachers earned $100,000" -- has the fifth-highest achievement test scores in Illinois. 

Rado also writes that "almost half the teachers in Township High School District 113 took home six-figure salaries — the highest percentage in the state."  That same district is home to Deerfield High School, which is ranked seventh. Furthermore, Country High School District 128 is ranked ninth and Maine Township High School District 207 comes in at 13th.

When considering the Tribune's findings, Illinoisans should reflect on the fact that these expenditures seem to yield positive results. 

School reform advocates like the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability's Ralph Martire have been arguing for years that the more we spend on education, the better results we see.  (You can download the CTBA's "Money Matters" report here.) The problem in Illinois is that individual districts are mostly reliant on property taxes to fund their schools.  This means that property-rich areas -- like the districts mentioned above -- are going to have more to spend on teachers and other resources, as we explained this spring:

The state legislature has never provided enough funding for education, a problem that's gotten worse this decade. In 2008, the state's share of school funding dropped to 27.5 percent, down from 33 percent 18 years prior. That's shifted the burden onto localities, who solicit property taxes to pay for books, teachers, and other essentials. But all property tax bills aren't created equal. Rich districts with huge houses and thriving businesses can raise more money through property taxes while keeping the tax rate in those districts modest. Poor districts with low property values need to charge much higher rates if they have any hope of keeping pace. "Per-pupil spending tends to follow the old real estate maxim," writes Secter, "location, location, location."

The takeaway from the Tribune story shouldn't be: "We pay these teachers too much."  Instead, we should use it to recognize the correlation between per-pupil spending and performance and then fight to reform the funding structure in this state.