Student enrollment in Evanston/Skokie District 65 schools continued to decline this year.
Figures released by the Illinois State Board of Education Monday morning show enrollment is down 5% from last year and more than 20% since 2018.
Statewide, public school enrollment has declined 7% since 2018.
In District 65 the racial breakdown of the student population has changed as follows since 2018:
- White students decreased from 42.8% of all students to 40.5%.
- Black students increased from 22.5% to 23%.
- Hispanic students increased from 20.6% to 21.8%.
- Asian students decreased from 4.7% to 4.6%.
- Multi-racial students increased from 9.2% to 9.9%.
A District 65 enrollment projection issued in January forecast a slightly larger drop in 2023 enrollment than indicated by the state data.
It forecast that Kindergarten through 8th grade enrollment for this school year would be 6,019 — compared to the 6,080 shown in the state data released Monday.
The district’s forecast also predicts enrollment declines will continue, but at a slower pace, for the next several years.
The ISBE data shows that some schools have suffered much sharper enrollment declines since 2018 than others.
School Enrollment 2018 Enrollment 2022 Enrollment 2023 Change since 2018 Change since 2022 Chute Middle School 589 579 540 -8.32% -6.74% Haven Middle School 836 775 675 -19.26% -12.90% Nichols Middle School 725 679 649 -10.48% -4.42% Dawes Elementary School 380 311 315 -17.11% 1.29% Dewey Elem School 509 379 348 -31.63% -8.18% Lincoln Elem School 523 400 410 -21.61% 2.50% Lincolnwood Elem School 405 327 309 -23.70% -5.50% Oakton Elem School 406 369 370 -8.87% 0.27% Orrington Elem School 418 269 255 -39.00% -5.20% Walker Elem School 363 384 377 3.86% -1.82% Washington Elem School 558 482 448 -19.71% -7.05% Willard Elem School 509 410 367 -27.90% -10.49% Dr ML King Jr Literary & Fine Arts Sch 541 431 402 -25.69% -6.73% Kingsley Elementary School 390 342 324 -16.92% -5.26% Dr Bessie Rhodes Sch Global Studies 341 279 275 -19.35% -1.43% Joseph E Hill Education Center 350 228 236 -32.57% 3.51%
Shrinking enrollments at certain elementary schools may make them likely targets for closure as the school board tries to balance its budget and achieve its newly revised goal of building a new 600-student K-5 school in the 5th Ward.