Will County Gazette

There were 233 white students enrolled in Richland Grade School District 88A in the 2021-22 school year, 5.7% less than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Data showed that Richland Grade School District 88A welcomed 933 students during the 2021-22 school year. Among them, white students comprised 27.6% of the student body to be the second 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 white students in the 2021-22 school year, with a total of 233 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	844	233	27.6%
2021	830	247	29.8%
2020	880	277	31.5%
2019	911	316	34.7%
2018	933	357	38.3%