Southern Illinois News

Pope County Elementary School had the highest enrollment among Pope County schools, welcoming 325 students during the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Out of all the students welcomed in the 2021-22 school year, 51.4% of them were boys, and 48.6% were girls.

Data also showed that most of the students were white, representing 93.8% of the student body at Pope County Elementary School.

Among the two schools in Pope County, Pope County High School ranked second in enrollment with 142 students.

Pope County Elementary School is a part of Pope County Community Unit School District 1, which generally encompasses schools within Pope County with its main office in Golconda.

In the previous school year, Pope County Elementary School had the highest number of students among Pope County schools.

In the 2021-22 school year, Illinois had roughly 1.9 million students enrolled across approximately schools. There were more than 130,000 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 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 5 years.

School name	City	Total Enrolment
Pope County Elementary School	Golconda	325
Pope County High School	Golconda	142