The state saw a drop of over 10% in the period from 2014 to 2024, five times the national rate.
By Rich Witzel | Illinois Policy Institute
Illinois public schools are losing students at a faster rate than in nearly every other state.
From fall 2014 to fall 2024, public elementary and secondary school enrollment dropped 10% in Illinois, according to a recently released report by the National Center for Education Statistics. The national decline was 2%.
Public school enrollment is falling across much of the country, but some states are losing students at a far faster rate than others.
Illinois ranked fourth-worst in the nation for enrollment loss percentage in the period, behind only West Virginia, Mississippi and New Hampshire.
The struggling system
At least some of the drop can almost certainly be attributed to Illinois’ ongoing outmigration problem. Still, it is not difficult to guess why fewer Illinois families are choosing public schools for their children.
Report continues here.
We need to eliminate the IL department of education- abject failure, unneeded, a source of grift and corruption.