SE Bluegrass News

There were 2,328 students enrolled in Powell County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 3.2% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Boys made up 53.5% of the county student body, while the other 46.5% were girls.

Data also showed that white students made up 95.1% of the student body, the largest percentage in Powell County schools, followed by 2.1% of Hispanic students, 1.8% of multiracial students and 0.9% of Black students.

Powell County High School had the highest enrollment among Powell County’s six schools in the 2022-23 cycle, welcoming 699 students.

Despite escaping some of the pandemic's educational disruptions, Kentucky's achievement gaps have remained an issue since 2019. In the eighth-grade reading assessments, for example, Hispanic students scored eight points lower than their white peers, and the gap reached 15 points in math. Black students fared even worse, falling more than 20 points behind and facing a failure rate nearly double that of their white counterparts.

Kentucky is in the midst of a statewide teacher shortage as turnover rates spiked to 10.9% in 2023, up from an 8.9% nine-year average. This issue is more prominent in schools with more low-income and minority students.

Data also shows that between 2019 and 2023, there was an increase of 260% in the number of available teaching posts in Kentucky schools. This often leads to larger class sizes, combining programs, and retaining staff despite potential negative impacts on teacher working conditions.

School Name	Total Enrollment in 2022	Total Enrollment in 2023	% change
Powell County High School	738	699	-5.6%
Powell County Middle School	528	492	-7.3%
Clay City Elementary School	514	479	-7.3%
Stanton Elementary School	385	365	-5.5%
Bowen Elementary School	204	251	23%
Powell County Academy	34	42	23.5%