SE Kentucky News

The majority of students in Knox County schools were white in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Of the 4,522 students attending Knox County schools, 95.1% were white. African American students were the second most represented ethnicity, making up 1.9%.

In the previous school year, white students were also the most common group in Knox County schools, representing 95.1% of the student body.

Knox Inspire Academy had the most even distribution of races among county schools, which included 100% white students.

In the 2022-23 school year, the total number of students enrolled in schools in the county increased by 6% compared to the previous year.

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.

School	Most Prevalent	Percent of Total Student Body	Total Enrollment
Knox Central High School	White	94.3%	894
Barbourville City School	White	95.8%	741
Central Elementary School	White	93.7%	538
Knox County Middle School	White	95.7%	491
Girdler Elementary School	White	96.3%	436
Jesse D. Lay Elementary School	White	97%	372
G. R. Hampton Elementary School	White	97.2%	319
Flat Lick Elementary School	White	98.1%	266
Dewitt Elementary School	White	98.1%	206
Knox Appalachian School	White	74.8%	103
Knox County Learning Academy	White	89.7%	97
Knox County Day Treatment	White	91.4%	58
Knox Inspire Academy	White	100%	1