SPRINGFIELD—Not only is it exceedingly rare to fire a tenured teacher in Illinois, but it also is extraordinarily expensive.

In fact, Illinois school districts that have hired outside lawyers in these cases have spent an average of more than $219,000 in legal fees during the last five years.

In a follow-up to its award-winning investigation of teacher tenure in Illinois, Small Newspaper Group took an in-depth look at costs associated with teacher dismissals.

In the original series, which was published in December, the newspapers said school districts reasonably could expect to spend at least $100,000 to try to fire a tenured teacher.