Peoria Standard

Peoria School District 150 reported 5,813 suspensions and 30 expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 5,843 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 46.1 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for 23 incidents involving violence without physical injury, two incidents involving drugs, and four incidents involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 688 recorded cases. There were also 11 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 2,294 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 3,612 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 2,231 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 3,424 involved elementary or middle school students, while 2,389 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 1,969 cases reported. Additionally, 677 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 56.6% of the Peoria School District 150 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 4,554 suspensions and 28 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 9.6% of the student body, and received 538 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	-	3	-
Violence with injury	-	7	-
Violence without injury	688	1,969	23
Drug offenses	7	69	2
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	2	36	4
Tobacco	11	50	-
Other reason	2,294	677	1
Total	3,002	2,811	30

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	371	72
1-2 days	2,426	1,117
2-3 days	184	937
3-4 days	19	563
4-10 days	1	103
More than 10 days	1	19