South Georgia Times

There were 513 ninth grade students enrolled in Ben Hill County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 5.4% less than the previous year, according to reports from the Georgia Department of Education.

Fitzgerald High School welcomed the largest number of ninth grade students among county schools, registering 491 students during the 2022-23 school year.

Within Ben Hill County schools, the highest student count was found in eighth grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in third grade.

Statewide, Ben Hill County ranked 96th in enrollment numbers, with a total of 5,564 students enrolled in the 2022-23 school year. It was also ranked 96th the year before.

According to the Georgia Department of Education, over 1.6 million students were enrolled in Georgia's public schools during the 2021-22 school year. The state boasted a diverse and closely distributed student body across grade levels, with roughly 44% of the students in elementary, 24.5% in middle school, and 31.5% in high schools.

The state also registered an ethnically diverse student body, with 34.4% of the students identified as white, 36.5% as Black, 17.1% as Hispanic, and 4.5% as Asian.

School name	# of 9th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Fitzgerald High School	491	28.9%	1,699
Hurricane Transition Academy	22	28.2%	78