Illinois among leaders in total school districts

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois has among the most school districts in the country, but that would change drastically under Gov. Pat Quinn's proposal to eliminate roughly 600 districts.

Illinois, which has 868 school districts, has far more than the two states closest to it in population. Pennsylvania has 501 school districts and Ohio operates 610, according to numbers from those states.

Florida, which has roughly 6 million more people than Illinois, boasts one of the thinnest school systems in the nation with only 67 school districts. However, California and Texas each have more than 1,000 districts.

Meanwhile, Illinois' neighbors, Indiana and Wisconsin, have 357 districts and 442 districts, respectively.

Quinn wants to reduce the number of school districts in Illinois to about 268 by 2013 in an effort to save $100 million in administrative costs.