Ross County education: 172 Hispanic students enrolled in schools in 2024-25 school year

There were 172 Hispanic students enrolled in Ross County schools in the 2024-25 school year, 9.6% more than the previous year, according to reports from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.

Data showed that Ross County welcomed 9,288 students during the year. Among them, Hispanic students comprised 1.9% of the student body to be the least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 23 schools in Ross County, Chillicothe Primary School recorded the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the 2024-25 school year, with a total of 34 students.

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.