By GAGE WILSON
for Glasgow News 1
Caverna Independent Schools’ enrollment data show a decrease from 2020 to 2024.
The data, compiled by administrator Beth Hawke, was requested by Chairwoman Jennifer Briggs to assist the board in understanding enrollment trends. District numbers show an 8.3 percent decline from academic year 2020 to academic year 2024, according to information presented to the board of education.
In 2020 Caverna’s K-12 student body sat at 645 students, and in 2024 that number fell to 580.
District superintendent Amanda Abell explained that two separate figures are used by the Kentucky Department of Education when measuring student population: enrollment and membership.
“The last day of the tenth month of school, KDE tracks the number of students you have on that day and that’s what’s considered your student membership,” she said. “Enrollment is the total number of students who attend at any point during the school year. Last year we had 745 students enrolled, which really shows how transient our population is.”
Student withdrawals due to hospitalizations, transfers and death have remained relatively steady with the lowest amount being 110 in 2022-23 and the highest, 143, in 2019-20. For this school year the district has 89 withdrawals as of Dec. 16.
Two pieces of state legislation have contributed to some of the withdrawals. House Bill 611 was designed to further penalize truancy in districts, but has had an unintended side effect of parents withdrawing students in favor of homeschooling, according to Abell.
The 2024 school year saw the highest number of students transfer to homeschooling at 29.
“We talk a lot about how can we prevent families that get in truancy trouble, from just saying ‘I’m pulling my student out to homeschool,’” said Abell. “Because we know that is not the best situation.”
The second, House Bill 563, eliminated the required district lines that dictated which district a student must attend.
“I really feel like this really impacted Caverna,” Abell said. “In the past, if you live in Cave City or Horse Cave, you were required to go to Caverna…, this may have impacted us with students going to Glasgow, Barren or Hart.”
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