We all know that part of purchasing a home in Chicagoland includes having to pay yearly property taxes that are paid in arrears. Sadly, even as property values have decreased over the past couple years, taxes have not followed the downward trend and have even increased. When you dig a little deeper into where the tax money goes, the continued increase may make sense.
As an example, let's use a home I have listed in the 60563 zip code of Naperville that's around the median price for a house in the area.
According to the DuPage County Clerk web site, the property taxes for this home went up 3% from 2008 to 2009. Out of the total property taxes paid for this home, 71.7% goes directly to Naperville School District 203. The City of Naperville collects 9.7% of the total tax bill and Naperville Park District gets 4.7%. The township, library, forest preserve and county collects the remainder.
Obviously it's important to look at how the taxes are distributed as it relates to the success of the Naperville District 203 school system.
The most recent report cards available to review for Naperville's District 203 continue to show why the district is acclaimed. According to the most recent Chicago Sun-Times ranking of the top 100 Illinois schools, "Highlands Elementary School ranks No. 9 in elementary schools and Kennedy Junior High ranks No. 10 among junior high schools. Naperville North advanced several spots from 18 to 12 on the list of top 100 high schools in the state."
The graph above shoes that Naperville School District 203 has exceeded the composite Illinois state tests every year shown (2002 through 2009; graph courtesy of the Interactive Illinois Report Card). The yearly progress report also shows that the school district performs well above state averages in reading, math, attendence and graduation.
The Naperville School District 203 summary for 2009 can be found here (per Illinois State Board of Education site) and this blog will be a place where the latest reports will be posted once they're released in the Fall.
The 2009-2010 "Report to the Community" was recently published by "Naperville Community Unit School District 203" and asks an important question - are we receiving good value for our school dollars?
According to the report, "the district budget is balanced without cutting programs or staff for the 2010-11 school year and, at current projections, will remain so for the next five years." The achievements of the district remain well above the state average but the spending "per pupil is only about $343 above the state average ... at the same time, District 203 ACT composite scores average an incredible 25.0 and state test scores continue to be exemplary."
In summary, though homeowners are still experiencing property tax increases through a challenging housing market, it's encouraging to know that, using homes in Naperville's District 203 as an example, the overwhelming chunk of these taxes are going toward the continued improvement and achievement of successful local schools.
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