Many Low-Income In Burr Ridge District; Private School Popular Choice

BURR RIDGE, IL – Many may react with surprise that a big majority of a Burr Ridge-based school district's students come from low-income families.

That's according to state data on Burr Ridge School District 180.

Burr Ridge is among the wealthiest of Chicago's suburbs.

District 180 includes a southern portion of the village of Burr Ridge. Like the rest of Burr Ridge, it's not unusual to find houses worth more than $1 million there.

Also in the district is the unincorporated area south of Burr Ridge. A lot of the housing has lower values. A couple of decades ago, Hinsdale Lake Terrace Apartments became federally subsidized, meaning more low-income residents.

In 2006, 35 percent of District 180's students were considered low-income, according to state data. By 2015, it rose to two-thirds. Now, it's three-fourths.

District 180 also sees an unusually high percentage of its school-aged children go to private schools, with a quarter of them going to Kindi Academy in Lisle.

Among 13 area elementary districts, District 180 has the second-highest proportion going to private school. Only Oak Brook-based Butler District 53 is higher, with 31 percent going to private school.

For the Burr Ridge area's two other districts – Gower and Pleasantdale – where 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively, of school-aged children go to private schools.

Center Cass School District 66, which includes Darien and Downers Grove, has the lowest percentage among the 13 schools at 2 percent.

The data is self-reported by private schools that have registered with the state, which says there is a "high likelihood of errors." The numbers exclude homeschooled children.

Here's a look at the percentage of school-aged children who attend private schools in area districts:

Source: Illinois School Board of Education