Illinois
State Government
Governor
J.B. Pritzker (D)
State Senate
40
Democrats,
19
Republicans
State House
78
Democrats,
40
Republicans
Economic well-being - Illinois
Extreme poverty rate
0.1
Food insecurity
0.1
Minimum wage
15.0
Percent of working families under 200% of the poverty line
0.3
Poverty rate
11.6%
Unemployment rate
4.4
Number of Black or African American children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Number of Hispanic or Latino children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment
Percent of individuals who are uninsured
6.9
Poverty by demographic - Illinois
Child poverty rate
0.1
Number of Asian and Pacific Islander children below 200% poverty
28000
Number of Black or African American children below 200% poverty
204000
Number of Hispanic or Latino children below 200% poverty
312000
Senior poverty rate
10.6 %
Women in poverty
6,308,481
Northern Public Radio, October 31, 2014: Illinois Report Card Shows Increase In Low-Income Students
"Low-income children now outnumber middle-class students in Illinois public schools. More than a million kids qualified for free or reduced price lunch last year."
Dubuque Telegraph Herald, October 16, 2014: Report: More than half of Illinois students low income
"The Illinois State Board of Education released statistics showing that more than half of public school students in the state are considered low-income, and for the first time, less than half of public school students are white. The agency said Wednesday that the state's white public school student population has dropped to 49.9 percent, while its Hispanic population has grown to 24.6 percent. It also said 51.5 percent of all Illinois public school students are considered low-income."
Early childhood education services expanded in D200
"Last year, the DuPage Community Foundation awarded $75,000 to the Wheaton-Warrenville Early Childhood Collaborative, a partnership made up of the school district, family services, and a number of other local agencies. Since then, the program has organized outreach events for more than 200 families and education workshops have been held for 108 early childhood providers in the Wheaton Warrenville area, officials said. [��_] Estimates show that about 6,400 children under age 6 in DuPage County live in poverty and the rate of child poverty has more than doubled in the past decade, according to the Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development."
The San Francisco Chronicle, May 06, 2014: Illinois senator amends education funding bill
"Bunker Hill Democrat Andy Manar's legislation has been amended to cap the amount of state funds given to the poorest schools to ensure money can be spread around evenly to districts with average amounts of poverty. The measure is aimed at streamlining the state's school funding formula by requiring districts to demonstrate need before receiving money."
The Chicago Tribune, November 07, 2013: Homelessness a growing challenge for Illinois schools
"The 2013 Illinois School Report Card released last week for the first time includes a breakdown of the number of students classified as homeless at each public school in the state. Those numbers, for the 2012-13 school year, show that more than 600 schools -- about 15 percent of Illinois schools -- report homeless student populations of at least double the state average of 2 percent."
The Journal-Standard, November 03, 2013: Higher standards mean lower scores for Freeport area schools
"More of the region's rural and suburban schools are performing below the state average while dealing with higher than ever numbers of low-income students and those with limited English skills."