Jackson Purchase News

There were 6,422 students enrolled in Graves County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 0.8% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Boys made up 53.2% of the county student body, while the other 46.8% were girls.

Data also showed that white students made up 68.5% of the student body, the largest percentage in Graves County schools, followed by 17.5% of Hispanic students, 7.8% of multiracial students and 5.6% of Black students.

Graves County High School had the highest enrollment among Graves County’s 13 schools in the 2022-23 cycle, welcoming 1,142 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
Graves County High School	1,168	1,142	-2.3%
Mayfield Elementary School	992	966	-2.7%
Graves County Middle School	650	665	2.3%
Mayfield High School	567	581	2.5%
Mayfield Middle School	635	570	-11.4%
Graves County Central Elementary School	528	515	-2.5%
Wingo Elementary School	465	484	4.1%
Symsonia Elementary School	409	405	-1%
Sedalia Elementary School	385	398	3.4%
Fancy Farm Elementary School	347	329	-5.5%
Farmington Elementary School	295	287	-2.8%
Gateway Academy High School	47	44	-6.8%
Mayfield Youth Development Center	12	36	200%