South West Illinois News

There were 2,534 white students enrolled in Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 in the 2021-22 school year, 2.1% more than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Data showed that Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 welcomed 2,641 students during the 2021-22 school year. Among them, white students comprised 94.7% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the district.

Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 roughly covers schools within Monroe County and has a main office in Waterloo.

Among the five schools in Waterloo Community Unit School District 5, Waterloo High School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2021-22 school year, with a total of 788 students.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of 3,977 schools. There were 130,467 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped three percent between the 2019-20 and 2020–21 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last 5 years.

Year	Total District Enrollment	Total of White Students	White students %
2022	2,676	2,534	94.7%
2021	2,619	2,481	94.7%
2020	2,712	2,579	95.1%
2019	2,720	2,587	95.1%
2018	2,641	2,519	95.4%