West Central Reporter

Beardstown Junior/Senior High School had the highest enrollment among Cass County schools, welcoming 807 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, 53.7% of them were boys, and 46.3% were girls.

Data also showed that most of the students were Hispanic, representing 54.3% of the student body at Beardstown Junior/Senior High School.

Among the eight schools in Cass County, Gard Elementary School ranked second in enrollment with 457 students, while Virginia Elementary School welcomed 178 students to be ranked third in the 2021-22 school year.

Beardstown Junior/Senior High School is a part of Beardstown Community Unit School District 15, which generally encompasses schools within Cass County with its main office in Beardstown.

In the previous school year, Beardstown Junior/Senior High School had the highest number of students among Cass 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
Beardstown Junior/Senior High School	Beardstown	807
Gard Elementary School	Beardstown	457
Virginia Elementary School	Virginia	178
A-C Central Elementary School	Chandlerville	154
Grand Avenue School	Beardstown	142
Virginia Junior and Senior High School	Virginia	136
A-C Central High School	Ashland	110
A-C Central Middle School	Ashland	94