There were 13 Black students enrolled in Union School District 81 in the 2024-25 school year, 30% more than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Union School District 81 welcomed 131 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 9.9% of the student body to be the least represented ethnicity in the district.
Union School District 81 roughly covers schools within Will County and has a main office in Joliet.
Union Elementary School is the only one school in the Union School District 81 that recorded enrollment of Black students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 13 students.
Nationwide, public K-12 education spending has approached roughly $857 billion, with average per-student spending near $17,000, funded primarily through state and local sources. Spending varies widely by state, and Illinois ranks above the national average, with roughly $22,000 spent per student when state, local, and federal funding are combined.
Illinois public school enrollment continues a long-term downward trend. According to statewide reporting and education data analyses, total enrollment fell to about 1.85 million students as of the 2023-24 school year, and major districts such as Chicago Public Schools saw further declines—for example, CPS reported a drop of more than 9,000 students between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 counts.
| Year | Total District Enrollment | Total of Black Students | Black students (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 131 | 13 | 9.9% |
| 2023-24 | 122 | 10 | 8.2% |
| 2022-23 | 106 | 14 | 13.2% |
| 2021-22 | 106 | 15 | 14.2% |
| 2020-21 | 105 | 17 | 16.2% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
