There were 62 multiracial students enrolled in Elementary School District 159 in the 2024-25 school year, 7.5% fewer than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Elementary School District 159 welcomed 1,630 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, multiracial students comprised 3.8% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the district.
Elementary School District 159 roughly covers schools within Cook County and has a main office in Matteson.
Among the five schools in Elementary School District 159, Colin Powell Middle School recorded the highest enrollment of multiracial students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 22 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 Multiracial Students | Multiracial students (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,630 | 62 | 3.8% |
| 2023-24 | 1,624 | 67 | 4.1% |
| 2022-23 | 1,655 | 65 | 3.9% |
| 2021-22 | 1,661 | 69 | 4.2% |
| 2020-21 | 1,750 | 83 | 4.7% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
