Sangamon Sun

Students in Menard County schools were truant 3.7% of the time in the 2021-22 school year, the Illinois State Board of Education reported. The truancy rate was lower than the previous school year.

There were 2,284 students enrolled in Menard County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 85 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 3.3%, 0.2% lower 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
Athens Junior High School	143	-
Athens Senior High School	323	7.2%
Cantrall Elementary School	342	-
Cantrall Intermediate School	216	8%
Greenview Elementary School	88	-
Greenview Junior/Senior High School	109	-
Petersburg Elementary School	366	-
Porta Central School	274	-
Porta High School	423	6.3%