Enrollment analysis: Non-Hispanic white students comprised 67.3% of Fairfield County school districts’ student body in 2024-25 school year

There were 17,161 non-Hispanic white students enrolled in Fairfield County school districts in the 2024-25 school year, 3% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.

Data showed that Fairfield County school districts welcomed 25,501 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, non-Hispanic white students comprised 67.3% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the county’s school districts.

Among the eight school districts in Fairfield County, Lancaster City School District recorded the highest enrollment of non-Hispanic white students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 5,126 students.

The main offices of all school districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Fairfield County.

Public school enrollment in Ohio fell to 1.47 million students in fiscal year 2025, down 1%, marking the largest drop since fiscal year 2022.

According to a report from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, enrollment fell most sharply in rural and small-town districts. In contrast, joint vocational districts recorded growth, with chartered nonpublic schools recording the largest enrollment increases.

According to an analysis by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Ohio students have not fully recovered from pandemic-related learning losses. In the 2024-25 school year, about 55.3% of students were proficient in math and 60% in reading, both several points below 2018-19 levels.

Ohio ranks 23rd nationally in K-12 school expenditures, with public schools spending $16,687 per pupil for a total of $28.05 billion annually. Overall, costs exceed available funding by nearly $460 million.

Information in this article was obtained from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce. The source data can be found here.