South Central Reporter

Students in Macoupin County districts had a truancy rate of 9.3% 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 11.2%.

There were 7,442 students enrolled in Macoupin County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 695 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 6.1%, which was 2.5% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Gillespie Community Unit School District 7 suffered the most truancy issues (18.7%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Mount Olive Community Unit School District 5 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (5.4%).

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 Macoupin 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
Gillespie Community Unit School District 7	1,140	18.7%
North Mac Community Unit School District 34	1,166	17.6%
Northwestern Community Unit School District 2	326	8.1%
Bunker Hill Community Unit School District 8	579	8%
Staunton Community Unit School District 6	1,213	7.4%
Carlinville Community Unit School District 1	1,320	6.8%
Southwestern Community Unit School District 9	1,226	6.2%
Mount Olive Community Unit School District 5	472	5.4%