SW Wisconsin News

There were 24 Black students enrolled in Vernon County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 4% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Vernon County schools welcomed 3,672 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.7% of the student body to be the fourth most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 23 schools in Vernon County, Viroqua Elementary School and Viroqua High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with four students.

According to the Nation’s Report Card 2022 results, Black fourth-graders in Wisconsin scored an average of 40 points lower than their white colleagues in both math and reading.

Data also showed that Black students were three times as likely to fail the reading test than white pupils in the state. The gap is even larger in mathematics, with Black students failing five times more than white students.

These achievement gaps are also reflected in graduation rates. According to recent US Census data, nearly 95% of white students in the state successfully graduated in 2021.

Meanwhile, graduation rates for Black and multiracial students lagged behind white students by 10%. Even further behind, only 71.6% of Hispanic students completed their high school education during the same period, one of the lowest graduation rates in the state.

School name	% of Black students enrollment	Total Enrollment
De Soto High School	0.8%	124
De Soto Middle School	1.9%	108
Hillsboro Elementary School	0.5%	218
Kickapoo Elementary School	0.9%	212
Kickapoo Valley Forest School	1.9%	54
La Farge Elementary School	1.1%	93
La Farge Middle School	6.8%	44
Viroqua Elementary School	1.4%	291
Viroqua High School	1.3%	301
Viroqua Middle School	1.2%	242
Westby Elementary School	0.4%	275
Westby High School	0.3%	297