Peoria Standard

School administrators within Peoria County reportedly handed out 7,421 suspensions and 49 expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 7,473 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 7,470 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.3 actions per student in the county. There were an additional three cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for seven incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, 25 incidents involving violence without physical injury, eight incidents involving drugs, an incident involving a firearm, and six incidents involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among the 64 schools in the county, Manual Academy reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 1,077—or 14.4% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 756 recorded cases. There were also 30 incidents involving tobacco. Additionally, 2,789 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 4,790 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 2,680 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the Peoria County schools, 4,253 involved elementary or middle school students, while 3,168 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 2,176 cases reported. Additionally, 1,220 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 29.2% of the student body in Peoria County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 4,811 suspensions and 33 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (64.8% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by white students, who made up 48.9% of the student body, and received 1,333 suspensions and were expelled 12 times (18%).

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	-	15	-
Violence with injury	6	123	7
Violence without injury	756	2,176	25
Drug offenses	9	129	8
Firearm	-	1	1
Other dangerous weapons	2	48	6
Tobacco	30	117	-
Other reason	2,789	1,220	2
Total	3,592	3,829	49

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	453	103
1-2 days	2,827	1,412
2-3 days	224	1,198
3-4 days	84	842
4-10 days	3	232
More than 10 days	1	42