Macon Reporter

Students in Macon County districts had a truancy rate of 29.4% 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 35.4%.

There were 15,129 students enrolled in Macon County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 4,442 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 4.2%, which was 1.3% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Decatur School District 61 suffered the most truancy issues (53.9%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Sangamon Valley Community Unit School District 9 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (4.9%).

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 Macon 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
Decatur School District 61	8,147	53.9%
Argenta-Oreana Community Unit School District 1	923	22.7%
Meridian Community Unit School District 15	934	6.5%
Warrensburg-Latham Community Unit School District 11	952	6.5%
Maroa Forsyth Community Unit School District 2	1,154	5.6%
Mount Zion Community Unit School District 3	2,375	4.9%
Sangamon Valley Community Unit School District 9	644	4.9%