Chambana Sun

School administrators within Champaign County reportedly handed out 5,920 suspensions and 33 expulsions solely during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois Report Card.

In total, there were 6,461 disciplinary actions recorded during the school year, of which 5,953 were suspensions or expulsions, representing an average of 0.2 actions per student in the county. There were an additional 508 cases of students being removed to alternative settings rather than being suspended or expelled.

The expulsions were issued for seven incidents involving violence that caused physical injury, 18 incidents involving violence without physical injury, an incident involving drugs, an incident involving a firearm, and two incidents involving a dangerous weapon other than a firearm.

Among the 52 schools in the county, Urbana Middle School reported the highest number of disciplinary actions at the time, with a total of 1,553—or 24% of all incidents countywide.

The county reported that most in-school suspensions where a reason was specified were given for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 351 recorded cases. There were also 28 incidents involving violence that caused physical injury. Additionally, 1,825 cases were classified under "other reason" or left unspecified.

There were 4,022 disciplinary incidents involving male students. Another 1,845 incidents involved female students, while one of the 15 non-binary students was involved in one incident.

Of all suspensions issued in the Champaign County schools, 4,643 involved elementary or middle school students, while 1,277 involved high school students.

Out-of-school suspensions most commonly were for incidents involving violence without physical injury, with 1,603 cases reported. Additionally, 1,721 cases were classified under the "other reason" category.

In terms of ethnicity, Black students, who made up 24.7% of the student body in Champaign County schools, were suspended or expelled the most in the county, with 3,714 suspensions and 22 expulsions reported during the 2023-24 school year (62.8% of all disciplinary actions). They were followed by white students, who made up 47.2% of the student body, and received 878 suspensions and were expelled twice (14.8%).

Some schools or districts may not publish complete disciplinary data due to privacy protections or reporting limitations, which could affect the totals.

Illinois allocated $8.6 billion to K-12 education in its 2025 budget—a $350 million increase over FY 2024, meeting the minimum required under the state’s school 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	5	14	-
Violence with injury	28	135	7
Violence without injury	351	1,603	18
Drug offenses	21	103	1
Firearm	1	5	1
Other dangerous weapons	4	54	2
Tobacco	14	36	-
Other reason	1,825	1,721	4
Total	2,249	3,671	33

Duration	In-School Suspension	Out-of-School Suspension
One day or less	792	175
1-2 days	1,268	1,829
2-3 days	71	842
3-4 days	112	540
4-10 days	5	239
More than 10 days	1	46