South Central Reporter

There were 1,087 white students enrolled in Gillespie Community Unit School District 7 in the 2021-22 school year, 1.7% less than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education report.

Data showed that Gillespie Community Unit School District 7 welcomed 1,325 students during the 2021-22 school year. Among them, white students comprised 95.4% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the district.

Gillespie Community Unit School District 7 roughly covers schools within Macoupin County and has a main office in Gillespie.

Among the three schools in Gillespie Community Unit School District 7, Ben-Gil Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2021-22 school year, with a total of 513 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	1,140	1,087	95.4%
2021	1,161	1,106	95.3%
2020	1,295	1,236	95.4%
2019	1,255	1,180	94%
2018	1,325	1,260	95.1%