Operational spending at Pleasant Plains Middle School in Sangamon is 35 percent less than the average Chicago public school.
Pleasant Plains Middle School is in Pleasant Plains CUSD 8, where operational spending is $9,891 per year, per student.
In the Chicago Public School District (CPS), the average school spends $15,120 per year, per student.
The number of students per classroom at Pleasant Plains Middle School is actually fewer than at CPS. At Pleasant Plains Middle School, there are 22 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 Pleasant Plains Middle 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.
On the 2015 Illinois standardized K-12 test, or "PARCC" exam, 38.5 percent of students at Pleasant Plains Middle School earned a passing score.
On the same exam, 25 percent of CPS students earned a passing score.