WC Wisconsin News

There were 408 Black students enrolled in La Crosse County schools in the 2023-24 school year, the same number as the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that La Crosse County schools welcomed 15,113 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 2.7% of the student body to be the third least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 38 schools in La Crosse County, Central High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 51 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.

School name	% of Black students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Bangor Elementary School	0.7%	301
Bangor Middle/High School	0.3%	347
Central High School	5%	1,014
Coulee Montessori Charter School	4.4%	115
Coulee Region Virtual Academy	6.4%	78
Eagle Bluff Elementary School	1.1%	471
Emerson Elementary School	4%	323
Evergreen Elementary School	0.6%	329
Hamilton Elementary School	22.6%	146
Hintgen Elementary School	9.3%	215
Holmen High School	0.5%	1,246
Holmen Middle School	1%	878
Holmen Public Preschool	0.5%	194
La Crosse Polytechnic School	1.9%	106
Logan High School	7%	715
Logan Middle School	4.6%	462
Longfellow Middle School	4.5%	625
North Woods International School	12.3%	260
Northern Hills Elementary School	1.3%	477
Northside Elementary School	9.8%	254
Onalaska High School	2.2%	926
Onalaska Middle School	0.9%	659
Pertzsch Elementary School	2.1%	385
Prairie View Elementary School	0.4%	464
Sand Lake Elementary School	0.8%	370
School of Technology and Arts I	1.6%	122
Southern Bluffs Elementary School	0.6%	320
Spence Elementary School	3.5%	315
State Road Elementary School	2.4%	297
Summit Environmental School	4.3%	303
Viking Elementary School	0.5%	379
West Salem Elementary School	0.6%	686
West Salem High School	0.5%	606
West Salem Middle School	1.5%	549