There were 171 Black students enrolled in Richland Grade School District 88A in the 2024-25 school year, 3.6% more than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Richland Grade School District 88A welcomed 788 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 21.7% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the district.
Richland Grade School District 88A roughly covers schools within Will County and has a main office in Crest Hill.
Richland Elementary School is the only one school in the Richland Grade School District 88A that recorded enrollment of Black students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 171 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 | 788 | 171 | 21.7% |
| 2023-24 | 813 | 165 | 20.3% |
| 2022-23 | 809 | 149 | 18.4% |
| 2021-22 | 844 | 173 | 20.5% |
| 2020-21 | 830 | 160 | 19.3% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
