There were 234 Hispanic students enrolled in Ford County public schools in the 2024-25 school year, 2.6% more than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Hispanic students made up 9.7% of the 2,415 students during the 2024-25 school year. They were the second most represented ethnicity in the county schools.
Among the eight schools in Ford County, Clara Peterson Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 57 students.
As of the 2024-25 school year, Illinois public schools served just under 1.85 million K-12 students statewide, continuing a slow decline in enrollment from previous years. During that same period, the state recorded a student-teacher ratio of about 17:1 as full-time equivalent teachers rose to a record 137,899.
K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state’s demographic changes. Between the 2017-18 and 2024-25 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately two million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 153,000 students or 7.6%.
| School name | % of Hispanic students enrolment | Total enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| Clara Peterson Elementary School | 10.2% | 561 |
| Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Elementary School | 10.5% | 488 |
| Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School | 12.6% | 286 |
| Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School | 8.6% | 370 |
| Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Middle School | 10% | 210 |
| Tri Point Elementary School | 13.8% | 109 |
| Tri-Point Junior High/Elementary | 8.8% | 125 |
| Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School | 4.1% | 266 |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois State Board of Education. The source data can be found here.
