East Central Reporter

Clay County schools welcomed 2,127 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is a decrease of 3.1% from the previous school year, when there were 2,195 students enrolled in the county.

Clay County had the 34th lowest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 50.3% identified as male, and 49.7% as female.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 93% of its student body.

Within Clay County, Flora Elementary School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 657 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
Clay City Elementary School	Clay City	112
Clay City High School	Clay City	74
Clay City Junior High School	Clay City	73
Flora Elementary School	Flora	657
Flora High School	Flora	361
Floyd Henson Junior High School	Flora	308
North Clay Community High School	Louisville	162
North Clay Elementary/Junior High School	Louisville	380