East Central Reporter

Operational spending at Mattoon Middle School in Coles is 36 percent less than the average Chicago public school.

Mattoon Middle School is in the Mattoon Cusd 2 school district, where operational spending is $9,750 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 Mattoon Middle School is actually fewer than at CPS. At Mattoon Middle School, there are 21 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 Mattoon 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.

28.6 percent of students at Mattoon Middle School 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.