Operational spending at Springfield Learning Academy in Sangamon County is 16 percent less than the average Chicago public school.
Springfield Learning Academy is in the Springfield SD 186 school district, where operational spending is $12,704 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 Springfield Learning Academy is actually fewer than at CPS. At Springfield Learning Academy, there are eight 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 Springfield Learning Academy, the truancy rate is 2.3 percent.
The Chicago Teachers Union has called on 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.
3.6 percent of students at Springfield Learning Academy 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.