SE Kentucky News

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

Of the 3,743 students attending Clay County schools, 97.1% were white. African American students were the second most represented ethnicity, making up 1.2%.

In the previous school year, white students were also the most common group in Clay County schools, representing 96.7% of the student body.

Manchester Elementary School had the most even distribution of races among county schools, which included 94% white students, 2.8% African American students, 1.6% Hispanic or Latino students, 1% multiracial students, and 0.2% Asian students.

In the 2022-23 school year, the total number of students enrolled in schools in the county increased by 8.1% 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
Clay County High School	White	96.5%	895
Clay County Middle School	White	97.9%	519
Manchester Elementary School	White	94%	498
Paces Creek Elementary School	White	97.1%	373
Burning Springs Elementary School	White	98.6%	345
Hacker Elementary School	White	97.9%	330
Big Creek Elementary School	White	99.6%	232
Goose Rock Elementary School	White	98.7%	232
Horse Creek Learning Center	White	94.1%	169
Oneida Elementary School	White	99.3%	150