Correction (July 21, 2026): The original article said Springfield hovered near 40% for nearly the full series even though it reached 57.6% in 2021-22. It also characterized Decatur's post-peak improvement as minimal despite a 12.8-point decline from its peak. This version corrects those trends, bounds Rockford's comparison to an explicit large-district panel, labels the absent-student count as an estimate, removes unsupported structural-floor and causal explanations, and rebuilds the claim ledger from fresh state-package output.

Four Illinois urban districts reported chronic absenteeism above 40% in 2024-25: Decatur^↗ET SD 61 at 46.1%, Rockford^↗ET SD 205 at 42.4%, Springfield^↗ET SD 186 at 40.7% and CPS^↗ET at 40.1%.

Their 2024-25 enrollment totaled 371,744 students. Multiplying each district's enrollment by its reported rate produces an estimated 150,258 chronically absent students. The absence file does not report district-level counts for these rows, so that figure is a rate-based estimate rather than an observed count.

Four Districts, Four Trajectories

Rockford moved from 35.4% in 2018-19 to 20.0% in 2019-20, 51.3% in 2020-21 and a 60.8% peak in 2021-22. It then declined each year to 47.5%, 46.0% and 42.4%, an 18.4-point improvement from the peak. The 2021-22 rate was highest among the nine districts with 2024-25 enrollment of at least 15,000. Rockford's current rate was still 2.12 times its 2019-20 rate.

Springfield did not stay near 40% throughout the series. Its rates were 34.2% in 2018-19, 42.4% in 2019-20, 52.8% in 2020-21 and 57.6% in 2021-22. They then fell to 43.0%, 41.6% and 40.7%. The current rate was 1.7 points below the 2019-20 rate and 16.9 points below the peak.

CPS moved from 12.8% in 2019-20 to a 44.6% peak in 2021-22. Its last three rates were 39.8%, 40.8% and 40.1%, a 1.0-point range. The current rate was 3.13 times the 2019-20 rate. That arithmetic describes the aggregate series; it does not identify why the rate stabilized in that interval.

Decatur moved from 21.8% in 2019-20 to 58.9% in 2020-21. It then reported 56.0%, 50.5%, 45.3% and 46.1%. The current rate was 12.8 points below its peak but 24.3 points above its 2019-20 rate.

What the Comparison Does Not Establish

All four current rates exceeded 40%, but four selected districts cannot establish a natural urban floor. The package does not test whether poverty, transportation, health access, budgets, leadership or attendance programs caused the similarities or differences. It also does not support a forecast for the next reporting year.

Data source: chronic absenteeism rates and enrollment counts come from the Illinois State Board of Education. Rate trends cover reporting years 2019 through 2025. The large-district comparison uses 2024-25 enrollment of at least 15,000 as its explicit threshold.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.