Sangamon Sun

Students in Woodford County districts had a truancy rate of 5.1% 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 6.2%.

There were 7,079 students enrolled in Woodford County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 363 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 3.7%, which was 1.4% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Roanoke-Benson Community Unit School District 60 suffered the most truancy issues (14.9%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, County of Woodford School successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (2.2%).

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 Woodford 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
Roanoke-Benson Community Unit School District 60	437	14.9%
Fieldcrest Community Unit School District 6	850	12.7%
Riverview Consolidated Community School District 2	230	7.2%
Lowpoint Washburn Community Unit School District 21	317	6.7%
El Paso-Gridley Community Unit School District 11	1,204	6.5%
Eureka Community Unit School District 140	1,502	3.8%
Metamora Community Consolidated School District 1	795	2.3%
County of Woodford School	933	2.2%