East Central Reporter

Effingham Community Unit School District 40 reported 109 suspensions and four expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 113 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 5.1 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for an incident involving alcohol and tobacco and two incidents involving drugs.

Among in-school suspension where a reason was specified, the only case was given for incident involving tobacco. Additionally, 18 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 95 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 18 incidents involved female students.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 58 involved elementary or middle school students, while 51 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving tobacco and violence that caused physical injury, with 16 cases reported. Additionally, 66 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, white students, who made up 86.3% of the Effingham Community Unit School District 40 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 99 suspensions and four expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 7.7% of the student body, and received five suspensions.

Illinois has approved a 2025 budget that allocates $8.6 billion to K-12 education, a $350 million increase from the previous fiscal year—the minimum required under the state 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	-	3	-
Violence with injury	-	8	-
Violence without injury	-	3	-
Drug offenses	-	2	2
Firearm	-	-	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	-	-
Tobacco	1	8	1
Other reason	18	66	1
Total	19	90	4

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	-	-
1-2 days	15	16
2-3 days	4	7
3-4 days	-	52
4-10 days	-	12
More than 10 days	-	3