East Central Reporter

Coles County schools welcomed 5,517 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is a decrease of 1.1% from the previous school year, when there were 5,579 students enrolled in the county.

Coles County had the 35th highest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 51.5% identified as male, and 48.5% as female.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 80.7% of its student body.

Within Coles County, Mattoon High School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 907 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
Arland D. Williams Junior Elementary School	Mattoon	706
Ashmore Elementary School	Ashmore	72
Carl Sandburg Elementary School	Charleston	534
Charleston High School	Charleston	735
Charleston Middle School	Charleston	383
Jefferson Elementary School	Charleston	553
Lake Crest Elementary School	Oakland	180
Mark Twain Elementary School	Charleston	204
Mattoon High School	Mattoon	907
Mattoon Middle School	Mattoon	615
Oakland High School	Oakland	65
Riddle Elementary School	Mattoon	563