NW Ohio Times

There were 516 kindergarten students enrolled in Defiance County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 2.3% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce.

Defiance Elementary School welcomed most of the kindergarten students in the county, registering 229 students.

Within Defiance County schools, the highest student count was found in kindergarten, with the smallest class sizes seen in pre-kindergarten.

Statewide, Defiance County ranked 58th in enrollment numbers, with a total of 5,675 students enrolled in the 2023-24 school year. It was also ranked 58th the year before.

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 Kindergarten Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Defiance Elementary School	229	21.6	1,061
Hicksville Elementary School	85	23	370
Tinora Elementary School	80	23.1	346
Fairview Elementary School	71	17.1	415
Ayersville Elementary School	51	15.1	338
Defiance Middle School	0	0	558
Defiance High School	0	0	710
Hicksville High School	0	0	206
Hicksville Middle School	0	0	287
Ayersville High School	0	0	308
Fairview High School	0	0	262
Fairview Middle School	0	0	217
Tinora High School	0	0	273
Tinora Middle School	0	0	315