ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — Hardin County is growing.

According to an Elizabethtown—Fort Knox MSA Transformation Project, an impact study commissioned by the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, its population grew at a rate of just over 42% from 1970 to 2020. That’s nearly 33,000 people over a 50-year period. 

What You Need To Know

  • Hardin County’s population is expected to grow by over 22,000 people by 2030

  • Hardin County Schools will eventually have to redistrict most of its schools

  • Next year, nearly 200 G.C. Burkhead Elementary School students will be redistricted because the school is at capacity

  • Lincoln Trail and Cecilia Valley elementary schools will take in those students because they have yet to see considerable growth

There is no sign of the growth stopping.

BlueOval SK is building a new center in Glendale, which will house the two largest battery plants in the world. The electric vehicle battery park is expected to create 5,000 jobs. 

Hardin County Schools are adjusting to the growing population. Some classrooms are full and shared by multiple teachers, but other educators aren’t that lucky. 

“The art teacher does not have a classroom right now,” said Terrie Morgan, superintendent of Hardin County Schools. “You can see some of the foyers that go to outside; we have assistants working in those classrooms. So it’s really in need of the space.”

The county’s population is expected to grow by over 22,000 people by 2030, according to the Elizabethtown—Fort Knox MSA Transformation Project.

“Due to the enormous growth happening in Hardin County, we are going to have that need to redistrict,” Morgan said. “Of all the schools that are impacted, G.C. Burkhead Elementary has been impacted the most.”

Roughly, 165 G.C. Burkhead students will attend different schools next year because the school is at capacity. About 105 will take a seven-mile drive to nearby Lincoln Trail Elementary School, while the estimated 60 remaining students will attend Cecilia Valley Elementary School, a little over four miles from G.C. Burkhead. 

This is only the beginning. The superintendent said it’s likely all schools will have to be redistricted when BlueOval SK is in full swing.

“It takes a lot of planning, a lot of looking at numbers, and one of our goals is to make sure we don’t change a school’s feeder pattern,” Morgan said. “For example, the students here that would have left G.C. Burkhead and gone to West Hardin Middle School, they will continue to go to West Hardin.”

If the redistricting didn’t occur this year, even more teachers could have been without a classroom. 

“I know that it gives some people a little worry, but in the end, it always works out,” said Hal Bender, principal of G.C. Burkhead Elementary School. “Hardin County Schools does what’s best for all children.”

The schools the students are being moved to have yet to see considerable growth and have room to accommodate them. Both will have open houses.

Related Stories