From Cash to Class: Do school districts that spend more money produce smarter students? StatisNostics dives in.

“That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance.”

This quote is comes from Abraham Lincoln, who believed that a quality education is everyone’s universal right. He valued education because, in his eyes, it allowed people to understand the world around them (or in Lincoln’s case, democratic institutions) better. Lincoln attended a blab school in his youth, which was a schoolhouse where the teacher read the lessons aloud, and the children were expected to repeat them in order to build retention. The teacher blabbed at students, and the students blabbed back. Eventually, these schools were deemed outdated and ineffective as people realized the children weren’t actually grasping the concepts but rather just reading/memorizing a script. Blab schools were also very expensive for their time. In the 1800s, it cost approximately 25 guineas (1,700 European Pounds in today’s currency) for boys to attend school, and blab schools were reported to be even more! People started to recognize that pouring lots of money into a subpar education system was inefficient.

But, are we doing any better today?

Over the past decade, student achievement scores have dropped dramatically and gaps continue to grow in all 50 states. However, school districts nationwide continue to spend millions and millions of dollars on their education systems. This week, we’re determining whether or not it’s worth it. Does spending more money on schools get better results? Let’s look at the state of Illinois to explore our discussion question.

In Illinois, we’ll examine the cities of Chicago and Hinsdale and their school district fiscal data. StatisNostics reports Chicago having an average school score of only 19, broken down to a reading score of 17 and a math score of 21. The total expenses for the Chicago Public School District 299 (in thousands) are $7,130,321, which averages to about $12,028 spent per student. In Hinsdale, the achievement results are vastly different with a school score of 89, broken down to a reading score of 87 and a math score of 90.

StatisNostics® school scores between Chicago and Hinsdale

Hinsdale, IL has two main districts: Hinsdale Community Consolidated School District 181 and Hinsdale Township High School District 86. The total expenses for both districts (in thousands) are $221,998. Hinsdale Community Consolidated School District spends about $20,126 per student and Hinsdale Township High School District spends around $27,169 per student.

StatisNostics® breaks down spending by district.

So what do we know? Chicago spends more in total expenses due to population size, but Hinsdale ends up spending more per student. So based on our monetary data alone, it would seem as though spending more money on students will make them smarter! However, it’s important to look at the situation contextually as well. There are vast funding inequities between Chicago and its suburbs. As we can see from our StatisNostics data, despite the CPSD being very large (the third largest school district in the U.S., in fact), Hinsdale spends almost double the amount of money per student. This coupled with resource disparities in the CPS system greatly contributes to its low academic performance.

As these trends between urban and suburban schools persist, Lincoln's dream of quality education for all students seems farther and farther out of reach.

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National Parks Service. “All They Heard Was Blah, Blah, Blah....What Was School like for Abraham Lincoln?” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2024, www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/all-they-heard-was-blah-blah-blah-what-was-school-like-for-abraham-lincoln.htm.

Klitzman, Zach. “A Universal Right for All - Lincoln and Education - President Lincoln’s Cottage: A Home for Brave Ideas.” President Lincoln’s Cottage | A Home for Brave Ideas, 21 Apr. 2021, www.lincolncottage.org/a-universal-right-for-all-lincoln-and-education/.Klitzman, Zach. “A Universal Right for All - Lincoln and Education - President Lincoln’s Cottage: A Home for Brave Ideas.” President Lincoln’s Cottage | A Home for Brave Ideas, 21 Apr. 2021, www.lincolncottage.org/a-universal-right-for-all-lincoln-and-education/.

StatisNostics. “School Data Comparison.” StatisNostics, statisnostics.com/schools/compare?address1=chicago%2C%2Bil&address2=hinsdale%2C%2Bil. Accessed 17 June 2025.

Cover Photo Credit: Alina Kotliar

Beginning Photo Credit: A-Digit