East Central Reporter

Mattoon Community Unit School District 2 had the highest enrollment among Coles County districts, welcoming 3,059 students during the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2021-22 school year, 50.7% of them were boys, and 49.3% were girls.

Data also showed that the majority of students were white, making up 81.8% of the Mattoon Community Unit School District 2's total enrollment.

Among the three districts in Coles County, Charleston Community Unit School District 1 ranked second in enrollment numbers with 2,525 students, while Oakland Community Unit School District 5 welcomed 257 students and ranked third in the 2021-22 school year.

Mattoon Community Unit School District 2 roughly covers schools within Coles County with its main office in Mattoon.

In the previous school year, Mattoon Community Unit School District 2 also had the highest number of students among Coles County districts.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of almost 4,000 schools. There were 130,467 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 several years, influenced by demographic changes. Between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years, public and private K-12 enrollment fell by 3% (60,900 students), a significantly larger decline than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual decreases seen in the state over the last five years.

District	City (main office)	Total Enrollment
Mattoon Community Unit School District 2	Mattoon	3,059
Charleston Community Unit School District 1	Charleston	2,525
Oakland Community Unit School District 5	Oakland	257