South West Illinois News

Students in Randolph County schools were truant 14.7% 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 3,818 students enrolled in Randolph County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 563 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 4.5%, 1.5% higher 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
Chester Elementary School	590	10.5%
Chester High School	318	20.3%
Coulterville Elementary School	91	13.7%
Coulterville High School	69	-
Coulterville Junior High School	58	-
Evansville Attendance Center	112	10.9%
Prairie Du Rocher Elementary School	130	-
Red Bud Elementary School	642	10.4%
Red Bud High School	371	13.7%
Sparta High School	303	30.7%
Sparta Lincoln School	743	27.2%
Steeleville Elementary School	257	4.4%
Steeleville High School	134	-