There were 405 white students enrolled in Pope County Community Unit School District 1 in the 2024-25 school year, 7.1% fewer than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Pope County Community Unit School District 1 welcomed 434 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, white students comprised 93.3% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the district.
Pope County Community Unit School District 1 roughly covers schools within Pope County and has a main office in Golconda.
Among the two schools in Pope County Community Unit School District 1, Pope County Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 272 students.
Nationwide, public K-12 education spending has approached roughly $857 billion, with average per-student spending near $17,000, funded primarily through state and local sources. Spending varies widely by state, and Illinois ranks above the national average, with roughly $22,000 spent per student when state, local, and federal funding are combined.
Illinois public school enrollment continues a long-term downward trend. According to statewide reporting and education data analyses, total enrollment fell to about 1.85 million students as of the 2023-24 school year, and major districts such as Chicago Public Schools saw further declines—for example, CPS reported a drop of more than 9,000 students between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 counts.
| Year | Total District Enrollment | Total of White Students | White students (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 434 | 405 | 93.3% |
| 2023-24 | 466 | 436 | 93.6% |
| 2022-23 | 475 | 449 | 94.5% |
| 2021-22 | 467 | 442 | 94.6% |
| 2020-21 | 481 | 456 | 94.8% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
