Carbondale Reporter

There were 146 white students enrolled in DeSoto Consolidated School District 86 in the 2021-22 school year, 6.4% less than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Data showed that DeSoto Consolidated School District 86 welcomed 225 students during the 2021-22 school year. Among them, white students comprised 82.5% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the district.

DeSoto Consolidated School District 86 roughly covers schools within Jackson County and has a main office in De Soto.

DeSoto Elementary School is the only one school in the DeSoto Consolidated School District 86 that recorded enrollment of white students in the 2021-22 school year, with a total of 146 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	177	146	82.5%
2021	185	156	84.3%
2020	214	188	87.9%
2019	203	181	89.2%
2018	225	204	90.7%