East Kentucky Times

There were 2,553 students enrolled in Breathitt County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 6.6% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Boys made up 59.4% of the county student body, while the other 40.6% were girls.

Data also showed that white students made up 93% of the student body, the largest percentage in Breathitt County schools, followed by 4.3% of Black students, 1.6% of Hispanic students and 0.7% of multiracial students.

Breathitt County High School had the highest enrollment among Breathitt County’s seven schools in the 2022-23 cycle, welcoming 819 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
Breathitt County High School	863	819	-5.4%
Sebastian Elementary School	554	515	-7.6%
Jackson City School	347	369	6.3%
Breathitt Regional School	200	313	56.5%
Marie Roberts-Caney Elementary School	348	259	-34.4%
Highland-Turner Elementary School	217	223	2.8%
Breathitt County Day Treatment	57	55	-3.6%