DuPage Schools

Who’s Really in Charge of Your Child’s Education?

DuPage County families are being told the system is working. But the numbers tell a different story: stubbornly low academic performance across dozens of districts, chronic absenteeism that remains well above pre-pandemic levels, and policies that leave parents with less voice over what happens in their children's schools.

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DuPage County school districts continue to post deeply troubling academic results despite substantial and growing taxpayer investment.

In the 2023–24 school year, only 44.6% of DuPage County students in grades 3 through 8 met proficiency standards in math on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) — meaning more than half of our students cannot perform math at grade level. Statewide, just 28.4% of Illinois students met math benchmarks, a figure still below the 31.8% recorded before the pandemic.

At the same time, reading performance has only partially recovered. Statewide IAR data shows that 41.2% of students met or exceeded reading standards in 2024 — better than the pandemic low, but still far short of where families should expect their children to be. High school performance is even more alarming: proficiency rates at the 11th grade level have trended downward since 2019, with smaller percentages meeting grade-level standards each year.

Meanwhile, chronic absenteeism remains a crisis. One in four Illinois public school students was chronically absent in the 2024–25 school year — defined as missing 10% or more of school days. Among high schoolers, the numbers are even more stark: 41.5% of Illinois 12th graders were chronically absent, and students with even one year of chronic absenteeism are seven times more likely to drop out. DuPage County is not immune — Fenton High School in Bensenville reported a 44% chronic absenteeism rate on the most recent Illinois School Report Card.

Some individual DuPage districts are spending at levels that should demand better results. Community High School District 99 in Downers Grove spent $26,478 per student in fiscal year 2024 — well above the state average of $20,129 — and yet math and reading proficiency in the region remains unacceptably low. Families deserve to know where their money is going and why outcomes aren't keeping pace.

Facts Everyone Should Know

CPS Academic Performance Remains Alarmingly Low

30.5%

of CPS students in grades 3 through 8 met reading proficiency standards in 2024, and only 18.3% were proficient in math. That means fewer than one in three students can read at grade level and fewer than one in five can do math at grade level.

Spending is soaring without matching results.

$28,702

per student is what CPS spent in the 2024-2025 school year when operating, debt, and capital costs are included. That places Chicago among the highest-spending large urban districts in the country, yet student performance remains unacceptably weak.

Too little of the budget reaches the classroom

51%

Of CPS’s nearly $10 billion budget, only about 51% actually goes to classrooms. The rest is consumed by pension obligations, debt repayment, capital costs, and district administration.

The system is adding staff while losing students

25%

CPS staffing has grown by roughly 25% since before the pandemic, adding more than 9,000 employees, even as enrollment has dropped by about 10%. More than 70% of that staffing increase went to support and administrative roles, not classroom instruction.

The Truth

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