Rockford Sun

Students in Winnebago County districts had a truancy rate of 34.1% 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 43%.

There were 43,089 students enrolled in Winnebago County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 14,692 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 12%, which was 4% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Rockford School District 205 suffered the most truancy issues (49.1%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Rockton School District 140 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (1.2%).

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 Winnebago 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
Rockford School District 205	27,328	49.1%
Harlem Unit School District 122	6,188	37.2%
South Beloit Community Unit School District 320	913	17.2%
Hononegah Community High School District 207	1,885	9%
Winnebago Community Unit School District 323	1,253	4.6%
Durand Community Unit School District 322	544	4%
Kinnikinnick Community Consolidated School District 131	1,720	3.1%
Pecatonica Community Unit School District 321	866	2.7%
Prairie Hill Community Consolidated School District 133	749	2.1%
Rockton School District 140	1,543	1.2%