East Central Reporter

Students in Coles County districts had a truancy rate of 21.6% in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. This was a decrease from the previous school year's rate of 29.2%.

There were 5,841 students enrolled in Coles County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 1,262 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 6.1%, which was 1.8% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Mattoon Community Unit School District 2 suffered the most truancy issues (24.3%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Oakland Community Unit School District 5 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (6.2%).

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 Coles 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
Mattoon Community Unit School District 2	3,059	24.3%
Charleston Community Unit School District 1	2,525	22.6%
Oakland Community Unit School District 5	257	6.2%