Sangamon Sun

Springfield School District 186 reported 6,561 suspensions and 31 expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 6,593 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 6,592 were suspensions or expulsions, representing a rate of approximately 51.3 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students. There was an additional case of a student being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for 20 incidents involving violence without physical injury and an incident involving drugs.

Among in-school suspensions all cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 4,032 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 2,553 incidents involved female students, while the five non-binary students were involved in seven incidents.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 2,168 involved elementary or middle school students, while 4,393 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 900 cases reported. Additionally, 1,103 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 45.1% of the Springfield School District 186 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 4,380 suspensions and 25 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by white students, who made up 35.6% of the student body, and received 1,294 suspensions and were expelled three times.

Illinois has approved a 2025 budget that allocates $8.6 billion to K-12 education, a $350 million increase from the previous fiscal year—the minimum required under the state funding formula.

In 2024, Illinois registered a teacher retention rate of almost 90%. Yet, around 91% of superintendents reported having a 'serious' problem teacher shortage problem. In total, almost 4,100 teaching positions remained vacant by the end of the year.

“They’re putting a substitute in there, that’s somebody with a four-year degree that’s not in teaching. They’re using a retired teacher…or worse than that, they’re canceling the class, putting the kids in other classrooms, putting them in study hall, but those are strategies we have to use if there’s no qualified teacher,” said Beth Crider, regional superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education #48.

Type of Incident	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension	Expelled
Alcohol	-	-	-
Violence with injury	-	-	-
Violence without injury	-	900	20
Drug offenses	-	131	1
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	11	-
Tobacco	-	-	-
Other reason	4,416	1,103	10
Total	4,416	2,145	31

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	2,491	-
1-2 days	1,765	573
2-3 days	127	499
3-4 days	27	612
4-10 days	6	253
More than 10 days	-	208