Illinois Valley Times

Students in Bureau County schools were truant 6.9% 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 4,476 students enrolled in Bureau County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 311 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 8%, 4.3% 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
Allen Grade School	79	-
Bureau Valley Elementary Wyanet Campus	138	-
Bureau Valley Elementary and Junior High School	307	5%
Bureau Valley High School	313	4.6%
Bureau Valley North School	202	-
Dalzell Grade School	63	-
DePue Elementary School	231	9.5%
DePue High School	101	30.2%
Douglas Elementary School	208	-
Hall High School	378	15.3%
Jefferson Elementary School	224	11.5%
John F. Kennedy Elementary School	616	5%
La Moille Junior/Senior High School	94	20.6%
Ladd Community Consolidated School	179	-
Lincoln Elementary School	198	-
Logan Junior High School	427	5.8%
Malden Grade School	94	-
Ohio Community Consolidated Grade School	72	-
Ohio Community High School	27	-
Princeton High School	499	11%