Non-white students in Hamilton County Schools in the 2019-2020 school year made up a majority of the enrolled students for the first time, according to an interactive K-12 dashboard released earlier this week by the office of the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.
The dashboard, which uses data from the Tennessee Department of Education’s Annual Statistical Report, showed the population of white students fell to 49.54%, down from 58.43% in the 2012-2013 school year. The percentage of Black students also declined over the same period from 31.28% to 30.26%, while the Hispanic student population grew from 7.74% to 16.15%.
Despite those numbers, the number of economically disadvantaged students fell dramatically over the period, declining from 25,524 students in 2012-2013 – more than half of all students – to 14,705 – about a third of all students – in 2019-2020.
Those numbers indicate to us how strong the economy had been prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the economy’s rising tide had lifted all demographics.
The dashboard showed that Hamilton County teachers and principals also benefited from the economy of the late 2010s, with classroom teachers realizing a combined 16.98% increase in their salaries from 2014 to 2020. The average classroom teacher salary jumped from $46,310 to $54,751, and the average principal salary increased from $85,033 to $102,651.