East Central Reporter

Students in Clay County districts had a truancy rate of 9.6% 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 6.7%.

There were 2,162 students enrolled in Clay County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 207 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 7.7%, which was 3.8% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Flora Community Unit School District 35 suffered the most truancy issues (12%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Clay City Community Unit School District 10 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (8.2%).

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 Clay 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
Flora Community Unit School District 35	1,293	12%
North Clay Community Unit School District 25	572	9.6%
Clay City Community Unit School District 10	297	8.2%