Southern Illinois News

Pope County schools welcomed 466 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is a decrease of 1.9% from the previous school year, when there were 475 students enrolled in the county.

Pope County had the lowest enrollment numbers in the state.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 93.6% of its student body.

Within Pope County, Pope County Elementary School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 299 students.

As of the 2023-24 school year, Illinois public schools enrolled approximately 1.85 million students across 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. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.

School	City	Enrollment
Pope County Elementary School	Golconda	299
Pope County High School	Golconda	167