SE Kentucky News

There were 3,416 students enrolled in Clay County School District schools in the 2022-23 school year, 1.3% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2022-23 school year, 50.8% of them were boys, and 49.2% were girls.

Data also shows that most of the students were white, representing 96.4% of the district's total enrollment.

Clay County School District roughly covers 10 schools within Clay County and has a main office in Manchester.

Among the 10 schools in Clay County School District, Clay County High School recorded the highest enrollment of 818 students in the 2022-23 school 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.

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 2021-22	Total Enrollment in 2022-23	% change
Clay County High School	836	818	-2.2%
Clay County Middle School	489	471	-3.8%
Manchester Elementary School	443	438	-1.1%
Paces Creek Elementary School	329	345	4.9%
Burning Springs Elementary School	346	337	-2.7%
Hacker Elementary School	292	288	-1.4%
Goose Rock Elementary School	251	246	-2%
Horse Creek Learning Center	189	191	1.1%
Big Creek Elementary School	170	151	-12.6%
Oneida Elementary School	116	131	12.9%