Central Wisconsin News

There were 801 Hispanic students enrolled in Portage County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 4.8% more than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Portage County schools welcomed 9,224 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Hispanic students comprised 8.7% of the student body to be the second most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 30 schools in Portage County, Stevens Point Area Senior High School recorded the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 131 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 Hispanic students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Almond-Bancroft Elementary School	18.1%	171
Almond-Bancroft High School	26.9%	108
Almond-Bancroft Middle School	20.3%	74
Amherst Elementary School	3.1%	351
Amherst High School	2.3%	354
Amherst Middle School	2.6%	270
Bannach Elementary School	7.5%	373
Benjamin Franklin Junior High School	11.8%	812
Charles F. Fernandez Center Alternative Learning	17.4%	69
Grant Elementary School	1.1%	266
Jefferson Elementary School	10.9%	265
Kennedy Elementary School	7%	171
Madison Elementary School	10.3%	339
McDill Elementary School	7.8%	335
McKinley Center	7.8%	361
P. J. Jacobs Junior High School	7.6%	700
Plover-Whiting Elementary School	16.3%	459
Point 4 the Future	7.8%	425
Point of Discovery School	3.9%	127
Preschool Options	10.8%	37
Roosevelt Elementary School	12.7%	519
Rosholt Elementary School	3.9%	257
Rosholt High School	1.9%	155
Rosholt Middle School	4.9%	61
Stevens Point Area Senior High School	9%	1,458
Tomorrow River Community Charter School	6.2%	178
Tomorrow River Virtual Charter School (TRVCS)	2.1%	47
Washington Elementary School	7.6%	474