Chronic absenteeism in Illinois is a statutory label defined under 105 ILCS 5/26-18: a student is chronically absent when their total absences reach 10 percent or more of the school days in the most recent academic year, counting every excused absence, unexcused absence, and out-of-school suspension equally.1Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-18 It is primarily a data and support category, not a punitive one. The enforcement track with hearings and penalties is a separate classification called chronic truancy, and the two get confused constantly.
How the 10 Percent Threshold Works
The threshold is a percentage of the days a particular school is in session, so the exact number of days shifts slightly from one school calendar to another. On a standard 180-day year, 10 percent lands at 18 days.
What matters more than the math is what gets counted. Every type of missed day feeds the total: a day home with the flu, a day out for a funeral, a day of out-of-school suspension, and a day skipped without permission all count the same way. The one exception is a documented homebound or hospital record on file during the absence period, which pulls those days out of the calculation.1Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-18
Because the count is reason-blind, a student with legitimate medical needs can show up as chronically absent even when every absence was properly excused. That is by design. The label exists to flag students who are missing enough school to put their learning at risk, regardless of why.
Chronic Absenteeism Is Not Truancy
Chronic truancy is defined separately, under 105 ILCS 5/26-2a. A chronic or habitual truant is a student subject to compulsory attendance who has been absent without valid cause for 5 percent or more of the previous 180 regular attendance days, which works out to roughly 9 or more unexcused absences.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5/26-2a – Definitions A plain “truant” is a student absent without valid cause for more than 1 percent but less than 5 percent of those days. A “truant minor” is a chronic truant who has already received supportive services but continues to miss school, and that is the label that opens the door to juvenile court proceedings.3Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-2a
The practical difference:
- Chronic absenteeism counts every absence. The response is support and data review.
- Chronic truancy counts only unexcused absences. The response is a formal escalation that can reach the courts.
A student with heavy documented medical absences could easily be chronically absent without ever becoming a chronic truant. A student with a smaller number of unexcused absences could be the opposite.
What Counts as a Valid Absence
Because the truancy count turns on whether an absence has valid cause, that definition does a lot of work. Illinois recognizes illness (including mental or behavioral health), a verified medical or therapeutic appointment, an appointment with a victim services provider, observance of a religious holiday, a death in the immediate family, attendance at a civic event, and family emergencies.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5/26-2a – Definitions Local school boards can add other situations beyond the student’s control, including circumstances that cause reasonable concern for the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or safety.
Mental Health Days
Since 2022, a student’s mental or behavioral health counts as valid cause for up to five days per school year, no doctor’s note required.4Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-1 The student must be given the chance to make up any work missed. After the second mental health day, the school may refer the student to support personnel such as a counselor, but the absence stays excused.
Student Parents and Victims of Violence
Expanded protections apply to students who are expectant parents, current parents, or victims of domestic or sexual violence. Parenting-related absences such as arranging child care, caring for a sick child, or attending prenatal appointments all qualify, as do absences for recovering from violence, seeking medical attention, meeting with a domestic violence organization, participating in safety planning, or relocating.3Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-2a A school district may ask for verification of a domestic or sexual violence claim if the related absence runs three or more consecutive days.
What Schools Must Do
Public Act 100-0156, which took effect July 1, 2018, added Section 26-18 and built the current chronic absenteeism framework. Every school district, charter school, alternative school, and school receiving public funds must collect and review chronic absence data and determine what systems of support and resources are needed to engage chronically absent students and their families.5Illinois General Assembly. Public Act 100-0156 The review has to go down to the individual attendance center level, not stop at a district-wide number.
The law encourages schools to use the Illinois Multi-tiered Systems of Support Network for at-risk students and ISBE’s Family Engagement Framework for connecting with families, but it does not mandate those tools or require districts to submit formal attendance plans to ISBE for approval.6Illinois General Assembly. Public Act 100-0156 – Chronic Absenteeism Districts have real flexibility in how they design interventions.
Separate from the chronic absenteeism data work, every district must adopt a written absenteeism and truancy policy that includes, at minimum, a definition of valid cause aligned with 105 ILCS 5/26-2a. Those policies have to be updated every two years and filed with both ISBE and the Regional Office of Education.7Illinois State Board of Education. Daily School Attendance and Truancy Illinois Laws and Regulations
For students in kindergarten through eighth grade, schools must make a reasonable effort to contact a parent or guardian by phone within two hours of the first class if the student is absent and there is no record that the absence was authorized or had valid cause.8Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-3b
What Happens If Absences Become Chronic Truancy
Once a student crosses into the chronic truancy category, Illinois follows a structured escalation that is deliberately front-loaded with support.
Notice to the Parent
The truant officer, or the regional superintendent in districts without a truant officer, must give written notice in person or by mail to the person with custody of the child. The notice has to state a specific date when attendance must begin and make clear that attendance must be continuous for the rest of the school year.9Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5/26-7
Truancy Hearing
If three notices have gone out and the parent has knowingly and willfully permitted the truancy to continue, the regional superintendent must hold a truancy hearing. A finding of truancy can lead to a requirement that the student complete 20 to 40 hours of community service over 90 days, at the regional superintendent’s discretion and depending on whether community service is age-appropriate.10Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-8
Court Referral or Mediation
If truancy continues after the hearing, the regional superintendent must either file a complaint against the parent with the state’s attorney or circuit court, or conduct truancy mediation and encourage the student to enroll in a graduation incentives program.10Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-8 If the child is beyond the parents’ control, the school can file a truancy petition under the Juvenile Court Act.
Penalties for Parents
A parent or guardian who receives notice of a child’s truancy and knowingly allows it to continue is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both.11Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-10 The statute requires proof that the parent acted knowingly and willfully, so a parent cooperating with the school but genuinely unable to compel attendance stands in a different position from one who ignores the notices. A separate provision makes it a Class C misdemeanor for anyone to induce a child to skip school or to knowingly employ or shelter a child who has been unlawfully absent for three or more consecutive school days.12Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5/26-11
Protections Before Any Punishment
Illinois law blocks schools from jumping straight to discipline. No punitive action, including out-of-school suspension, expulsion, or court action, can be taken against a truant minor unless appropriate and available supportive services have already been offered.13Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 – Section 26-12 A student cannot be expelled for nonattendance unless the student has accumulated 15 consecutive days of unexcused absences and the school either cannot locate the student or has exhausted available supportive services and still cannot bring the student back.
Parents facing truancy-related charges can raise several defenses. If the school never sent the required notices under Section 26-7, the escalation was not properly followed. If the school did not offer the supportive services the law requires before pursuing punitive action, that failure undercuts the case. Absences that fall within the valid cause categories cannot be counted toward the truancy threshold in the first place. Where absences stem from bullying or an unsafe school environment, families may argue the school failed in its own obligations.
Compulsory attendance itself applies to every child between the ages of 6 (on or before September 1) and 17, unless the child has graduated. Children enrolled in accredited private or parochial schools, children with certified physical or mental disabilities that prevent attendance, and children lawfully employed under the Child Labor Law meet the requirement through those alternatives.14Justia Law. Illinois Code 105 ILCS 5 – Article 26 The chronic absenteeism and truancy rules only reach children who are subject to compulsory attendance in the first place.