Sangamon Sun

Students in Bureau County districts had a truancy rate of 6.9% 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 11.9%.

There were 4,476 students enrolled in Bureau County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 311 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 8%, which was 4.3% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Depue Community Unit School District 103 suffered the most truancy issues (16.9%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Bureau Valley Community Unit School District 340 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (5%).

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 Bureau 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
Depue Community Unit School District 103	332	16.9%
Hall High School District 502	378	15.3%
La Moille Community Unit School District 303	173	12%
Princeton High School District 500	499	11%
Princeton Elementary School District 115	1,083	6.2%
Spring Valley Community Consolidated School District 99	616	5%
Bureau Valley Community Unit School District 340	960	5%