SC Wisconsin News

There were 7,313 white students enrolled in Columbia County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 1.8% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Columbia County schools welcomed 8,633 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, white students comprised 84.7% of the student body to be the most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 33 schools in Columbia County, Portage High School recorded the highest enrollment of white students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 539 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 white students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Cambria Friesland Elementary School	79.1%	153
Cambria Friesland Middle/High School	80.6%	160
Columbus Elementary School	83.6%	438
Columbus High School	87%	370
Columbus Middle School	81.1%	243
Discovery Charter School	86.8%	76
Fall River Elementary School	85.2%	229
Fall River High School	86.9%	267
Lewiston Elementary School	94%	83
Lodi Elementary School	87.5%	239
Lodi High School	90%	451
Lodi Middle School	91.4%	326
Lodi Primary School	92.2%	396
Muir Elementary School	76.6%	465
Ouisconsing School of Collaboration	86.7%	75
Pardeeville Elementary School	92.4%	330
Pardeeville High School	93.1%	274
Pardeeville Middle School	93%	258
Portage Academy of Achievement	85%	20
Portage High School	83.3%	647
Portage Partnering Preschool	87.6%	145
Poynette Elementary School	91.5%	411
Poynette High School	93%	300
Poynette Middle School	92.1%	278
Rio Elementary School	95.3%	170
Rio Middle/High School	91.4%	187
Spring Hill Elementary School	66.8%	654
Wayne Bartels Middle School	81.2%	409
Wisconsin Dells Middle School	68%	378
Woodridge Elementary School	77.1%	201