Kentucky schools becoming less white, but inequities persist

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's public schools are becoming less white, but black students still lag behind their white peers in reading and math proficiency according to an Associated Press analysis of more than a decade's worth of data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

In 2000, 68 percent of Kentucky's public schools were at least 90 percent white. But by 2014, 46 percent of schools were at least 90 percent white. Over that same time period, Kentucky's racial populations stayed roughly the same, with the number of white people decreasing by 2 percentage points while the number of black people increased by 1 percentage point, according to U.S. Census data.

Kentucky's population is 88 percent white and 8 percent black.