Will County Gazette

There were 43 white students enrolled in Union School District 81 in the 2021-22 school year, 18.9% less than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Data showed that Union School District 81 welcomed 92 students during the 2021-22 school year. Among them, white students comprised 40.6% of the student body to be the most 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 white students in the 2021-22 school year, with a total of 43 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	106	43	40.6%
2021	105	53	50.5%
2020	103	54	52.4%
2019	107	51	47.7%
2018	92	47	51.1%