South West Illinois News

Randolph County schools welcomed 3,816 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is an increase of 1.3% over the previous school year, when there were 3,768 students enrolled in the county.

Randolph County had the 46th highest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 51.3% identified as male, and 48.7% as female.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 85.1% of its student body.

Within Randolph County, Sparta Lincoln School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 732 students.

As of the 2023-24 school year, Illinois public schools enrolled approximately 1.85 million students across nearly 4,000 schools. There was roughly one teacher for every 15 students, slightly better than the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state's demographic changes. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.

School	City	Enrollment
Chester Elementary School	Chester	623
Chester High School	Chester	317
Coulterville Elementary School	Coulterville	81
Coulterville High School	Coulterville	67
Coulterville Junior High School	Coulterville	51
Evansville Attendance Center	Evansville	113
Prairie Du Rocher Elementary School	Prairie du Rocher	117
Red Bud Elementary School	Red Bud	605
Red Bud High School	Red Bud	385
Sparta High School	Sparta	316
Sparta Lincoln School	Sparta	732
Steeleville Elementary School	Steeleville	273
Steeleville High School	Steeleville	136