Sangamon Sun

Lincoln Community High School District 404, Hartsburg Emden Community Unit School District 21 and New Holland-Middletown Elementary School District 88 were among the 640 Illinois school districts that achieved "financial recognition" by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for their 2017 finances. The designation means these schools scored highest in financial strength metrics.

ISBE started profiling the financial health of the state's school districts in 2003, using experts to evaluate five areas: fund balance to revenue ratio, expenditure to revenue ratio, days cash on hand, percentage of short-term borrowing ability remaining, and percentage of long-term borrowing ability remaining. The results are combined into a score, which corresponds with one of four designations.

Districts that score between 1 and 2.61 are on "financial watch;" between 2.62 and 3.07 "financial warning;" between 3.08 and 3.53 "financial review;" and between 3.54 and 4.00 "financial recognition."

The following 174 school districts, listed in alphabetical order by county, received the highest score.

Healthiest Illinois school districts