Carbondale Reporter

Students in Williamson County districts had a truancy rate of 11.4% 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 17.8%.

There were 9,748 students enrolled in Williamson County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 1,110 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 5.1%, which was 1.8% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Herrin Community Unit School District 4 suffered the most truancy issues (17.3%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Johnston City Community Unit School District 1 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (10%).

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 Williamson 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
Herrin Community Unit School District 4	2,337	17.3%
Marion Community Unit School District 2	3,695	12%
Carterville Community Unit School District 5	2,200	11%
Johnston City Community Unit School District 1	1,036	10%