SE Bluegrass News

There were 14,306 students enrolled in Madison County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 2.8% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Boys made up 51.5% of the county student body, while the other 48.5% were girls.

Data also showed that white students made up 82.7% of the student body, the largest percentage in Madison County schools, followed by 5.7% of multiracial students, 5.7% of Hispanic students and 4.5% of Black students.

Madison Central High School had the highest enrollment among Madison County’s 25 schools in the 2022-23 cycle, welcoming 2,384 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
Madison Central High School	2,334	2,384	2.1%
Madison Southern High School	1,282	1,287	0.4%
Madison Middle School	693	735	6.1%
Kingston Elementary School	640	679	6.1%
Kirksville Elementary School	607	644	6.1%
Clark Moores Middle School	569	598	5.1%
Silver Creek Elementary School	547	562	2.7%
Berea Community Elementary School	572	561	-2%
Daniel Boone Elementary School	481	555	15.4%
Shannon Johnson Elementary School	499	513	2.8%
B. Michael Caudill Middle School	522	508	-2.8%
Kit Carson Elementary School	467	507	8.6%
Farristown Middle School	487	499	2.5%
Glenn R. Marshall Elementary School	449	480	6.9%
Foley Middle School	486	480	-1.3%
Waco Elementary School	457	470	2.8%
Madison Kindergarten Academy	493	469	-5.1%
Boonesborough Elementary School	460	457	-0.7%
White Hall Elementary School	376	423	12.5%
Model High School	350	415	18.6%
Berea Community High School	409	384	-6.5%
Model Elementary School	349	329	-6.1%
Berea Community Middle School	302	257	-17.5%
Bellevue Transitional School	35	64	82.9%
Madison County Day Treatment	28	46	64.3%