West Central Reporter

McDonough County schools welcomed 2,970 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is a decrease of 4.6% from the previous school year, when there were 3,112 students enrolled in the county.

McDonough County had the 50th lowest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 51.8% identified as male, and 48.2% as female.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 79.2% of its student body.

Within McDonough County, Macomb Senior High School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 578 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
Bushnell-Prairie City Elementary School	Bushnell	304
Bushnell-Prairie City High School	Bushnell	166
Bushnell-Prairie City Junior High School	Bushnell	117
Edison Elementary School	Macomb	372
Lincoln Elementary School	Macomb	406
Macomb Junior High School	Macomb	453
Macomb Senior High School	Macomb	578
West Prairie High School	Sciota	155
West Prairie Junior High School	Sciota	91
West Prairie North Elementary School	Good Hope	152
West Prairie South Elementary School	Colchester	176