NW Illinois News

Students in Jo Daviess County schools were truant 3% of the time in the 2021-22 school year, the Illinois State Board of Education reported. The truancy rate was lower than the previous school year.

There were 3,109 students enrolled in Jo Daviess County in the 2021-22 school year, meaning 93 students were absent throughout the year.

The dropout rate in the county was 6.3%, 3.5% higher than the year before.

Statewide, Hardin County schools suffered the most truancy issues (38.4%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Monroe County schools successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (3.1%).

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.

In 2022, Illinois had more than 1.9 million students enrolled in nearly 4,000 schools across 852 school districts. There were more than 350,000 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 three percent between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last 5 years.

Schools	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
East Dubuque Elementary School	343	-
East Dubuque High School	198	7.7%
East Dubuque Junior High	93	-
Galena High School	258	-
Galena Middle School	302	-
Galena Primary School	303	-
River Ridge Elementary School	197	-
River Ridge High School	139	8.1%
River Ridge Middle School	105	-
Scales Mound Elementary School	128	-
Scales Mound High School	80	-
Scales Mound Junior High School	59	-
Stockton Elementary School	136	-
Stockton Middle School	241	-
Stockton Senior High School	160	-
Warren Elementary School	163	13.1%
Warren Junior and Senior High School	204	14%