West Pennyroyal News

There were seven American Indian or Alaska Native students enrolled in Simpson County School District schools in the 2022-23 school year, 12.5% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Data showed that Simpson County School District welcomed 3,330 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, American Indian or Alaska Native students comprised 0.2% of the student body to be the least represented ethnicity in the district.

Simpson County School District roughly covers six schools within Simpson County and has a main office in Franklin.

Among the six schools in Simpson County School District, Lincoln Elementary School, Simpson Elementary School, and Franklin-Simpson Middle School recorded the highest enrollment of American Indian or Alaska Native students in the 2022-23 school year, with a total of two 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.

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.

Year	Total District Enrollment	Total American Indian or Alaska Native Students	American Indian or Alaska Native %
2022-23	3,330	7	0.2%
2021-22	3,273	8	0.2%
2020-21	3,223	10	0.3%
2019-20	3,294	11	0.3%