There were 329 white students enrolled in Gurnee School District 56 in the 2024-25 school year, 5.5% fewer than the previous year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Data showed that Gurnee School District 56 welcomed 1,786 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, white students comprised 18.4% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the district.
Gurnee School District 56 roughly covers schools within Lake County and has a main office in Gurnee.
Among the four schools in Gurnee School District 56, Viking School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 87 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 White Students | White students (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,786 | 329 | 18.4% |
| 2023-24 | 1,840 | 348 | 18.9% |
| 2022-23 | 1,841 | 349 | 19% |
| 2021-22 | 1,865 | 376 | 20.2% |
| 2020-21 | 1,851 | 384 | 20.7% |
Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Report Card. The source data can be found here.
