Chambana Sun

Ford County schools welcomed 2,233 students in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is an increase of 0.4% over the previous school year.

Ford County had the 31st lowest enrollment numbers in the state.

According to the data, the student body comprised of 53.7% boys, and 46.3% girls.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 85.8% of its student body.

Within Ford County, Clara Peterson Elementary School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 571 students.

In 2022, Illinois had almost 2 million students enrolled in 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. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped 3% 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 five years.

School	City	Enrollment
Clara Peterson Elementary School	Paxton	571
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Elementary School	Gibson City	478
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School	Gibson City	277
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Middle School	Gibson City	202
Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School	Paxton	413
Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School	Paxton	292