Peoria Standard

School administrators within Tazewell County reportedly handed out 3,193 suspensions and eight expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 3,205 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 3,201 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.2 actions per student in the county. There were an additional four cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for two incidents involving violence that caused physical injury and an incident involving drugs.

Among the 49 schools in the county, Pekin Community High School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 1,027—or 32% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving tobacco, with 98 recorded cases. There were also 63 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 1,709 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 2,295 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 906 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Tazewell County schools, 896 involved elementary or middle school students, while 2,035 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 193 cases reported. Additionally, 829 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 88% of the student body in Tazewell County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 2,549 suspensions and six expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (79.8% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 4% of the student body, and received 209 suspensions and were expelled twice (6.6%).

Some schools or districts may not publish complete disciplinary data due to privacy protections or reporting limitations, which could affect the totals.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school 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	8	7	-
Violence with injury	21	75	2
Violence without injury	32	193	-
Drug offenses	63	70	1
Firearm	-	1	-
Other dangerous weapons	7	13	-
Tobacco	98	67	-
Other reason	1,709	829	5
Total	1,938	1,255	8

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	103	67
1-2 days	1,484	434
2-3 days	239	228
3-4 days	76	313
4-10 days	36	178
More than 10 days	-	35