East Central Reporter

Coles County schools welcomed 5,579 students in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is a decrease of 1.6% from the previous school year, when there were 5,671 students enrolled in the county.

Coles County had the 37th highest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 50.9% identified as male, and 49.1% as female.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 81.2% of its student body.

Within Coles County, Mattoon High School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 960 students.

In 2022, Illinois had almost 2 million students enrolled in 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. 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 five years.

School	City	Enrollment
Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School	Mattoon	672
Ashmore Elementary School	Ashmore	82
Carl Sandburg Elementary School	Charleston	547
Charleston High School	Charleston	713
Charleston Middle School	Charleston	383
Jefferson Elementary School	Charleston	539
Lake Crest Elementary School	Oakland	181
Mark Twain Elementary School	Charleston	189
Mattoon High School	Mattoon	960
Mattoon Middle School	Mattoon	640
Oakland High School	Oakland	67
Riddle Elementary School	Mattoon	606