McLean County Times

There were 1,502 white students enrolled in Prairie Central Community Unit School District 8 in the 2021-22 school year, 0.5% more than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Data showed that Prairie Central Community Unit School District 8 welcomed 1,905 students during the 2021-22 school year. Among them, white students comprised 87.2% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the district.

Prairie Central Community Unit School District 8 roughly covers schools within Livingston County and has a main office in Fairbury.

Among the six schools in Prairie Central Community Unit School District 8, Prairie Central High School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2021-22 school year, with a total of 461 students.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of 3,977 schools. There were 130,467 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 three percent 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.

Year	Total District Enrollment	Total of White Students	White students %
2022	1,723	1,502	87.2%
2021	1,692	1,495	88.4%
2020	1,782	1,583	88.8%
2019	1,843	1,630	88.4%
2018	1,905	1,688	88.6%