South Central Reporter

Taylorville Community Unit School District 3 reported 346 suspensions and an expulsion just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 347 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 15.8 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsion was issued for .

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving tobacco and violence without physical injury, with 80 recorded cases. There were also 23 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 173 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 227 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 120 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 237 involved elementary or middle school students, while 109 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 19 cases reported. Additionally, 29 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 91.7% of the Taylorville Community Unit School District 3 student body, were suspended the most in the district, with 297 suspensions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 4.7% of the student body, and received 33 suspensions and were expelled once.

Illinois has approved a 2025 budget that allocates $8.6 billion to K-12 education, a $350 million increase from the previous fiscal year—the minimum required under the state funding formula.

In 2024, Illinois registered a teacher retention rate of almost 90%. Yet, around 91% of superintendents reported having a 'serious' problem teacher shortage problem. In total, almost 4,100 teaching positions remained vacant by the end of the year.

“They’re putting a substitute in there, that’s somebody with a four-year degree that’s not in teaching. They’re using a retired teacher…or worse than that, they’re canceling the class, putting the kids in other classrooms, putting them in study hall, but those are strategies we have to use if there’s no qualified teacher,” said Beth Crider, regional superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education #48.

Type of Incident	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension	Expelled
Alcohol	-	-	-
Violence with injury	23	9	-
Violence without injury	40	19	-
Drug offenses	7	6	-
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	-	-
Tobacco	40	-	-
Other reason	173	29	1
Total	283	63	1

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	70	9
1-2 days	128	21
2-3 days	26	15
3-4 days	47	14
4-10 days	9	4
More than 10 days	3	-