Fayette County, 19 other Kentucky districts, have what parents want

The Fayette County public school district has what parents are looking for, according to a national consulting and research firm that collects and manages information about public and private K-12 school systems and schools.

For the 16th consecutive year, Fayette County Public Schools has won a “What Parents Want Award” from SchoolMatch, an educational research and database service firm that specializes in rating schools. The district has won every year since the award’s inception. To determine the winners, SchoolMatch compiled information from more than 97,000 parent questionnaires to determine what parents most often seek when deciding which school districts are best for their children.

According to SchoolMatch, parents are looking for:
- Solid academics, competitive test scores and appropriate levels of rigor;
- Accreditation;
- National recognition for excellence;
- Competitive teacher salaries;
- Above-average instructional expenditures, based on national percentiles;
- Above-average expenditures for library/media services, based on national percentiles;
- Small class sizes;
- High quality secondary instruction.

Across the country, SchoolMatch found that 2,516 of the nations 15,571 public school districts met the criteria. In Kentucky, 20 of the state’s 175 school districts made the list.