South Ohio News

The majority of students in Ross County districts were non-Hispanic white in the 2022-23 school year, according to reports from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.

Of the 9,710 students attending Ross County district schools, 87.2% were non-Hispanic white. Multiracial students were the second largest ethnicity among the county's schools (7.5%).

In the previous school year, non-Hispanic white students were also the most common group in Ross County districts, representing 87.8% of the student body.

Chillicothe City had the most diverse student body in the county, which included Hispanic, multiracial, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic white and Asian or Pacific Islander students.

In the 2022-23 school year, the total number of students enrolled in school districts in the county remained the same compared to the previous year.

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

In 2022, Ohio saw an average student-to-teacher ratio of approximately 1:15, which is better than the national average of 1:16. This marks an improvement for the state, especially compared to 2016, when the ratio reached its decade-high at 16.1 students per teacher.

Despite the apparent improvement, this positive trend is overshadowed by a general decline in public school enrollments, which was accelerated by the pandemic. This decline, aligned with the steady number of teachers in the state over the last 10 years, has led to low student-to-teacher ratios.

District	Most prevalent ethnicity	% of Total Student Body	Total enrollment
Paint Valley Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	95.7%	787
Southeastern Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	95.2%	909
Huntington Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	94.8%	990
Zane Trace Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	94%	1,212
Adena Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	91.6%	1,140
Union-Scioto Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	87.9%	2,025
Chillicothe City	Non-Hispanic White	73.6%	2,647