Chambana Sun

Urbana School District 116 reported 2,254 suspensions and 22 expulsions just during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 2,276 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, representing a rate of approximately 52.4 incidents per 100 of the district’s enrolled students.

The expulsions were issued for two incidents involving violence that caused physical injury and 16 incidents involving violence without physical injury.

Among in-school suspensions where a reason was specified, the most common cause was incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 107 recorded cases. There were also 17 incidents involving drugs. Additionally, 1,018 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 1,581 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 694 incidents involved female students, while one of the 21 non-binary students was involved in one incident.

Of all suspensions issued in the district, 1,920 involved elementary or middle school students, while 334 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 367 cases reported. Additionally, 602 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 39.8% of the Urbana School District 116 student body, were suspended or expelled the most in the district, with 1,609 suspensions and 16 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year. They were followed by multiracial students, who made up 10% of the student body, and received 261 suspensions and were expelled five times.

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	2	10	-
Violence with injury	10	67	2
Violence without injury	107	367	16
Drug offenses	17	36	-
Firearm	1	4	-
Other dangerous weapons	-	13	-
Tobacco	-	-	-
Other reason	1,018	602	4
Total	1,155	1,099	22

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	608	36
1-2 days	508	452
2-3 days	32	264
3-4 days	5	219
4-10 days	2	101
More than 10 days	-	27