Rock Island Today

Mercer County schools welcomed 1,828 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

This is a decrease of 2.5% from the previous school year, when there were 1,874 students enrolled in the county.

Mercer County had the 26th lowest enrollment numbers in the state.

Of all the students welcomed at the time, 51.5% identified as male, and 48.5% as female.

Most of the students enrolled in the county were white, representing 91% of its student body.

Within Mercer County, Mercer County High School had the highest enrollment in the school year, welcoming 384 students.

As of the 2023-24 school year, Illinois public schools enrolled approximately 1.85 million students across nearly 4,000 schools. There was roughly one teacher for every 15 students, slightly better than the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting the state's demographic changes. Between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years, Illinois public school enrollment declined from approximately 1.98 million to 1.85 million students, a decrease of about 127,000 students or 6.4%. This decline is significantly higher than the typical annual decreases of 0.5% to 1.5% observed in the preceding years, reflecting broader demographic shifts within the state.

School	City	Enrollment
Apollo Elementary School	Aledo	341
Matherville Intermediate School	Matherville	189
Mercer County High School	Aledo	384
Mercer County Junior High School	Joy	268
New Boston Elementary School	New Boston	160
Sherrard Elementary School	Sherrard	234
Winola Elementary School	Viola	252