Elizabethtown Times

There were 5,371 students enrolled in Meade County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 1.2% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Boys made up 52.3% of the county student body, while the other 47.7% were girls.

Data also showed that white students made up 87.1% of the student body, the largest percentage in Meade County schools, followed by 5.3% of Hispanic students, 5% of multiracial students and 1.8% of Black students.

Meade County High School had the highest enrollment among Meade County’s 10 schools in the 2022-23 cycle, welcoming 1,592 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
Meade County High School	1,623	1,592	-1.9%
Barry Hahn Primary School	862	878	1.9%
Stuart Pepper Middle School	827	809	-2.2%
David T. Wilson Elementary School	527	539	2.3%
Flaherty Primary School	508	479	-6.1%
Ekron Elementary School	398	394	-1%
Flaherty Elementary School	331	285	-16.1%
Payneville Elementary School	272	265	-2.6%
James R. Allen High School	83	105	26.5%
Brandenburg High School	16	25	56.3%