Enrollment Analysis: White students comprised 82.1% of Lafayette County's student body in 2023-24 school year

Jill Underly Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction | Wikipedia

By SW Wisconsin News

Aug 1, 2024

There were 2,182 white students enrolled in Lafayette County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 2.5% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Lafayette County schools welcomed 2,658 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, white students comprised 82.1% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 17 schools in Lafayette County, Darlington Elementary/Middle School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 399 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 Lafayette County in 2023-24 School Year

Enrollment in Lafayette County Schools During 2023-24 School Year

School name	% of white students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Argyle Elementary School	89.8%	147
Argyle High School	93.5%	77
Argyle Middle School	91.7%	60
Belmont Elementary School	84.4%	224
Belmont High School	89.6%	163
Benton Elementary School	93.2%	132
Benton High School	91.5%	59
Benton Middle School	96.3%	27
Black Hawk Elementary School	94.1%	169
Black Hawk High School	97.3%	112
Black Hawk Middle School	95.8%	72
Darlington Elementary/Middle School	63%	633
Darlington High School	70.4%	257
Pecatonica High School	98.6%	214
Shullsburg Elementary School	79%	133
Shullsburg High School	85.3%	102
Shullsburg Junior High School	84.4%	77