SE Illinois News

Students in Hamilton County districts had a truancy rate of 8.4% in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. This was a decrease from the previous school year's rate of 12.7%.

There were 1,130 students enrolled in Hamilton County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 95 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 7.4%, which was 3.1% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Hamilton County Community Unit School District 10 suffered the most truancy issues (9.4%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Hamilton County Community Unit School District 10 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (9.4%).

Students are generally considered chronically truant if they miss 5% or more of the total number of school days in a year without acceptable excuses.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Hamilton County.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of 3,977 schools. There were 130,467 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped 3% between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last five years.

District	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Hamilton County Community Unit School District 10	1,130	9.4%