East Central Reporter

Newton Elementary School had the highest enrollment among Jasper County schools, welcoming 498 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, 54.6% of them were boys, and 45.4% were girls.

Data also showed that most of the students were white, representing 95.8% of the student body at Newton Elementary School.

Among the four schools in Jasper County, Newton Community High School ranked second in enrollment with 385 students, while Jasper County Junior High welcomed 171 students to be ranked third in the 2021-22 school year.

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

In the previous school year, Newton Elementary School had the highest number of students among Jasper 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
Newton Elementary School	Newton	498
Newton Community High School	Newton	385
Jasper County Junior High	Newton	171
Ste. Marie Elementary School	Ste. Marie	112