Southern Illinois News

Students in Alexander County districts had a truancy rate of 30.7% in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. This was an increase over the previous school year's rate of 9%.

There were 613 students enrolled in Alexander County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 188 students were absent throughout the year.

Across the county, Cairo Unit School District 1 suffered the most truancy issues (56.2%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Egyptian Community Unit School District 5 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (11.7%).

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.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Alexander County.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of 3,977 schools. There were 130,467 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 3% between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last five years.

District	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Cairo Unit School District 1	271	56.2%
Egyptian Community Unit School District 5	342	11.7%