SE Illinois News

Students in Saline County schools were truant 10.4% of the time in the 2021-22 school year, the Illinois State Board of Education reported. The truancy rate was higher than the previous school year.

There were 3,740 students enrolled in Saline County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 388 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 7.3%, 2.5% higher than the year before.

Statewide, Hardin County schools suffered the most truancy issues (38.4%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Monroe County schools successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (3.1%).

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.

In 2022, Illinois had more than 1.9 million students enrolled in nearly 4,000 schools across 852 school districts. There were more than 350,000 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 three percent between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last 5 years.

Schools	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Carrier Mills-Stonefort Elementary School	323	8.5%
Carrier Mills-Stonefort High School	125	20.1%
East Side Intermediate School	374	4.6%
Eldorado Elementary School	579	13.6%
Eldorado High School	316	26.3%
Eldorado Middle School	221	25.1%
Galatia Elementary School	202	-
Galatia Elementary School	26	-
Galatia High School	121	14.1%
Galatia Junior High School	66	-
Harrisburg High School	559	14.1%
Harrisburg Middle School	348	-
West Side Primary School	480	-