SE Kentucky News

There were 4,053 students enrolled in Perry County School District schools in the 2022-23 school year, 1.4% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2022-23 school year, 53.8% of them were boys, and 46.2% were girls.

Data also shows that most of the students were white, representing 95.7% of the district's total enrollment.

Perry County School District roughly covers 10 schools within Perry County and has a main office in Hazard.

Among the 10 schools in Perry County School District, Perry County Central High School recorded the highest enrollment of 932 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
Perry County Central High School	963	932	-3.3%
West Perry Elementary School	824	851	3.3%
East Perry County Elementary School	754	715	-5.5%
Robert W. Combs Elementary School	417	418	0.2%
Buckhorn School	367	357	-2.8%
Robinson Elementary School	312	295	-5.8%
Viper Elementary School	264	259	-1.9%
Leatherwood Elementary School	117	109	-7.3%
Learning Academy	74	96	29.7%
Perry County Alternative School	17	21	23.5%