Chambana Sun

Rantoul Township High School District 193 reported 469 suspensions and eight expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 477 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 57.7 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for five incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, an incident involving drugs, an incident involving a firearm, and an incident involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 18 recorded cases. There were also four incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 224 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 258 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 219 incidents involved female students.

All 469 suspensions issued in the district involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 87 cases reported. Additionally, 71 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 24.1% of the Rantoul Township High School District 193 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 256 suspensions and five expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by Hispanic students, who made up 30% of the student body, and received 113 suspensions and were expelled once.

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	-	-	-
Violence with injury	2	27	5
Violence without injury	18	87	-
Drug offenses	4	30	1
Firearm	-	-	1
Other dangerous weapons	-	-	1
Tobacco	1	5	-
Other reason	224	71	-
Total	249	220	8

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	-	1
1-2 days	247	83
2-3 days	2	38
3-4 days	-	26
4-10 days	-	59
More than 10 days	-	13