According to a Chicago Tribune analysis of data provided to the Illinois State Board of Education by public school districts, special education cooperatives, and statewide schools, white students now make up less than half of the public school student population in Illinois.
The numbers reflect a decrease in white student enrollment from 1,209,948 in 2002-03, almost 60 percent of the school population, to 1,023,382 in the current school year, representing a little less than half of the school population and a drop of about 186,000 students over the period.
The number of black students dropped from about 433,000 to 361,000 in that same period, according to the Tribune’s accompanying article.
Pending any corrections, which could occur in the next few months, enrollment for the current school year (2013-14) in Illinois public schools is as follows:
- White: 1,023,382 (49.8%)
- All other racial/ethnic groups: 1,033,110
- Hispanic: 507,264 (24.7%)
- Black: 360,874 (17.6%)
- Asian: 92.093 (4.5%)
- All Other non-white: 72,879 (3.6%)
