Vernon County Education: 122 multiracial students were enrolled in schools in 2023-24 school year

Jill Underly Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction | Wikipedia

By SW Wisconsin News

Oct 23, 2024

There were 122 multiracial students enrolled in Vernon County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 4.3% more 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, multiracial students comprised 3.3% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 23 schools in Vernon County, Viroqua Elementary School and Viroqua Middle School recorded the highest enrollment of multiracial students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 15 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.

Ethnicities in Vernon County in 2023-24 School Year

Enrollment in Vernon County Schools During 2023-24 School Year

School name	% of multiracial students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Coon Valley Elementary School	4.4%	115
De Soto High School	2.4%	124
De Soto Middle School	4.6%	108
Hillsboro Elementary School	5.1%	218
Hillsboro High School	1.9%	259
Kickapoo Elementary School	2.4%	212
Kickapoo High School	3.1%	258
Kickapoo Valley Forest School	3.7%	54
La Farge Elementary School	3.2%	93
La Farge High School	1.5%	68
La Farge Middle School	2.3%	44
Prairie View Elementary School	2.1%	97
Stoddard Elementary School	1.7%	118
Viroqua Area Montessori School	0.7%	144
Viroqua Elementary School	5.2%	291
Viroqua High School	3.3%	301
Viroqua Middle School	6.2%	242
Westby Elementary School	2.9%	275
Westby High School	3.4%	297
Westby Middle School	3.4%	294