Peoria Standard

Students in Fulton County schools were truant 9.6% 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 4,053 students enrolled in Fulton County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 391 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 7.8%, 2.7% 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
Astoria Elementary School	136	-
Astoria High School	85	-
Astoria Junior High School	67	-
Canton High School	638	15.3%
Central Elementary School	335	9.8%
Cuba Elementary School	186	-
Cuba Middle School	79	12.3%
Cuba Senior High School	124	13%
Eastview Elementary School	274	6.9%
Ingersoll Middle School	671	11.2%
Lewistown Junior/Senior High School	253	20.1%
Lincoln Elementary School	228	-
Spoon River Valley Elementary School	121	-
Spoon River Valley Junior High School	51	-
Spoon River Valley Senior High School	82	14.3%
VIT Elementary School	179	-
VIT Junior High School	67	-
VIT Senior High School	94	22.1%
Westview Elementary School	383	9.2%