Kankakee Times

Students in Iroquois County districts had a truancy rate of 7.6% 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 8.1%.

There were 3,799 students enrolled in Iroquois County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 290 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 6.7%, which was 4.1% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Iroquois County Community Unit School District 9 suffered the most truancy issues (11%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Cissna Park Community Unit School District 6 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (4.1%).

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.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Iroquois 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
Iroquois County Community Unit School District 9	904	11%
Donovan Community Unit School District 3	267	10.2%
Milford Area Public Schools District 124	509	9.8%
Iroquois West Community Unit School District 10	841	8.3%
Central Community Unit School District 4	948	5.8%
Cissna Park Community Unit School District 6	264	4.1%