Lima Reporter

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

Of the 7,851 students attending Mercer County district schools, 92.4% were non-Hispanic white. Asian or Pacific Islander students were the second largest ethnicity among the county's schools (2.8%).

In the previous school year, non-Hispanic white students were also the most common group in Mercer County districts, representing 92.6% of the student body.

Celina 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 increased 0.2% compared to the previous year.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Mercer 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
Marion Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	97.7%	907
St Henry Consolidated Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	96.6%	987
Fort Recovery Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	96.3%	971
Coldwater Exempted Village	Non-Hispanic White	96.2%	1,343
Parkway Local Schools	Non-Hispanic White	94.7%	967
Celina City	Non-Hispanic White	85%	2,676