There were 161 Black students enrolled in Forest Ridge School District 142 in the 2024-25 school year, 1.2% fewer than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Forest Ridge School District 142 welcomed 1,509 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 10.7% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the district.
Forest Ridge School District 142 roughly covers schools within Cook County and has a main office in Oak Forest.
Among the four schools in Forest Ridge School District 142, Kerkstra Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 49 students.
Nationwide, public K-12 education spending has approached roughly $857 billion, with average per-student spending near $17,000, funded primarily through state and local sources. Spending varies widely by state, and Illinois ranks above the national average, with roughly $22,000 spent per student when state, local, and federal funding are combined.
Illinois public school enrollment continues a long-term downward trend. According to statewide reporting and education data analyses, total enrollment fell to about 1.85 million students as of the 2023-24 school year, and major districts such as Chicago Public Schools saw further declines—for example, CPS reported a drop of more than 9,000 students between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 counts.
| Year | Total District Enrollment | Total of Black Students | Black students (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,509 | 161 | 10.7% |
| 2023-24 | 1,498 | 163 | 10.9% |
| 2022-23 | 1,532 | 163 | 10.6% |
| 2021-22 | 1,473 | 136 | 9.2% |
| 2020-21 | 1,536 | 150 | 9.8% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
