Grundy Reporter

Students in Grundy County districts had a truancy rate of 5.4% 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 9.2%.

There were 12,894 students enrolled in Grundy County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 700 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 1.5%, which was -0.1% lower than the year before.

Across the county, Braceville School District 75 suffered the most truancy issues (12.9%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Minooka Community High School District 111 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (4.7%).

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 Grundy 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
Braceville School District 75	109	12.9%
Morris Community High School District 101	843	9%
Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201	4,462	8.9%
Gardner-South Wilmington Township High School District 73	168	7.5%
Coal City Community Unit School District 1	2,056	5.1%
Minooka Community High School District 111	2,783	4.7%