West Pennyroyal News

There were 288 eighth grade students enrolled in Simpson County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 9.5% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Franklin-Simpson Middle School welcomed most of the eighth grade students in the county, registering 274 students.

Within Simpson County schools, the highest student population was found in ninth grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in preschool.

Statewide, Simpson County ranked 59th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 59th the year before.

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	# of 8th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Franklin-Simpson Middle School	274	36.6%	748
Franklin-Simpson High School West Campus	14	8.9%	158