Lima Reporter

There were 104 Hispanic students enrolled in Mercer County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 8.8% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.

Data showed that Mercer County welcomed 7,564 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, Hispanic students comprised 1.4% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 19 schools in Mercer County, Celina High School recorded the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the 2022-23 school year, with a total of 34 students.

In 2022, Ohio saw an average student-to-teacher ratio of approximately 1:15, which is an improvement for the state and is lower than the national average of 1:16.

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.

School name	% of Hispanic students enrolment	Total enrollment
Celina High School	4.5	763
Celina Primary School	3.4	526
Celina Middle School	4.1	411
Fort Recovery Elementary School	2.5	510
Celina Elementary School	3.1	350
Celina Intermediate Elementary School	3.2	339
Coldwater Elementary School	0	609
Marion Local Elementary School	0	661
St. Henry Elementary School	0	442
Coldwater Middle School	0	387
Parkway Elementary School	0	398
Coldwater High School	0	346
Parkway Middle School	0	292
Parkway High School	0	277
St. Henry High School	0	272
Fort Recovery High School	0	275
St. Henry Middle School	0	273
Marion Local High School	0	246
Fort Recovery Middle School	0	187