McHenry Times

Students in McHenry County districts had a truancy rate of 7.5% 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 10.1%.

There were 45,566 students enrolled in McHenry County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 3,405 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 2.8%, which was 1.3% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 suffered the most truancy issues (29.1%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Crystal Lake Community Consolidated School District 47 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (1.6%).

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 McHenry 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
Cary Community Consolidated School District 26	2,350	29.1%
McHenry Community High School District 156	2,185	25.9%
Harvard Community Unit School District 50	2,502	11.7%
Marengo-Union Elementary Consolidated District 165	1,007	11.2%
Harrison School District 36	357	10.8%
Marengo Community High School District 154	655	9.8%
Riley Community Consolidated School District 18	270	8.2%
Woodstock Community Unit School District 200	6,167	7.8%
Prairie Grove Community School District 46	769	7.5%
Community High School District 155	5,583	6.5%
Huntley Community School District 158	8,590	6.4%
Johnsburg Community Unit School District 12	1,662	6.4%
Richmond-Burton Community High School District 157	565	5.2%
McHenry Community Consolidated School District 15	4,029	3.2%
Alden Hebron School District 19	407	2.8%
Nippersink School District 2	1,100	2%
Crystal Lake Community Consolidated School District 47	6,973	1.6%