Budget talk and preliminary Criterion-Referenced Competency Test results dominated discussion at the Columbia County school board meeting Tuesday:
THE ACTION: The school board tentatively approved the $176 million budget for 2008-09.
THE CHANGES: The budget, which has been discussed at two previous meetings, showed one major change.
The board unanimously agreed to raise the cost of elementary school lunches by 25 cents next year. Previously, school administrators had proposed a 50-cent increase. The 25-cent jump would put the price at $2.
The board maintained its original proposal of increasing middle and high school lunches by 25 cents to $2.25 next year.
"We would have a big problem if we didn't go up something," Superintendent Charles Nagle said.
He said rising food costs, which could increase by as much as 22 percent, according to the state, contributed to the need to increase prices.
THE EFFECT: Revenues of about $175 million, based on 6 percent growth in the tax digest, and expenditures of more than $176 million will leave the budget with a shortfall of about $1 million. However, Mr. Nagle said, the school system can offset the deficit with its fund balance and reserves rather than with a millage increase.
The board is expected to give final approval to the budget at its June 10 meeting, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Board of Education central office, 4781 Hereford Farm Road. The board will set the millage at a July 8 meeting.
IN OTHER ACTION: Local officials blasted state Department of Education administrators for the dismal preliminary CRCT scores, which were released last week.
Only 60 percent of eighth-graders statewide and 73 percent of Columbia County eighth-graders passed the math portion of the test, according to preliminary figures. Pupils must pass the math test to be promoted to ninth grade.
"Don't place everything on these children on one test. That's the biggest travesty we have in this," Mr. Nagle said.
Board Chairwoman Regina Buccafusco said the state should not have given students a harder test with a higher passing score on a new curriculum all in the same year.
"Our students need to have higher standards. But we were blindsided, I think," she said.
-- Compiled by Staff Writer Betsy Gilliland
Comments
Regina - Take your yankee attitude back up north and strap Mr Grooms to your back when you pack up your carpet bags. Carping about the test and making excuses is not the answer. There is no reason for kids to fail that test or the social studies one (well okay, since that is what the football coaches at Lakeside teach...maybe). We have a chalkboard at my house and I've spent hours teaching my kids to fill in the gaps left by the teachers. Look to where the real problem is.
If the school board really wants to save money, be smarter about the real estate business. First don't buy expensive property for school locations. Reevaluate property they already own. Sometimes we should sell the property when it is at it's highest value and move to a less expensive location. Some schools have been torn down or closed and the property has not ben sold. When building new schools think about common areas. If you have the elementary, middle and high schools located together you could share one common kitchen with seperate dining areas. This would save costs on seperate buildings, labor and cooking equipment. Auditoriums could be a common area as well. One wold simply have to plan the usage to maintain seperation of the different ages. Perhaps maintenance and custodial workers could be shared. Buses would have fewer destinations. The list goes on and on.
Oh goody the salsa pizza that Harlem High sells for lunch will now cost more. Yum they are so good!!!!!!! NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's hope since the cost of lunch is going up we will get better food.
PTHS... you're blanketing all teachers as being the problem. Easy for you to be critical since you aren't one of the ones spending hours on lesson plans for a new curriculum based on the CRCT. My mother is a 7th grade teacher and spends hours outside of the classroom as well as inside preparing for her students. Last year, she had an 80-something % pass rate for her Social Studies students on the CRCT. This year, despite the fact that she had put more time and effort into preparing lessons following the CRCT, she had a 30-something % pass rate. The problem in this case was NOT on the teachers, but on flaws with the new CRCT and curriculum. Hence the Social Studies portion being dismissed!
I agree, ionlyknow! The food in the middle schools is terrible!!!Ask any of the teachers and, oh, yeah, the kids, too. My wife and I are tired of shelling out $$$ for cold food, bizarre looking main dishes, and extra snacks for my kids to eat when they get home because they are hungry. And yes, we can pack our own lunches, but why should we when we should have a decent lunch provided? They may be nutritionally sound but not if the kids don't eat it. Bring back the old-fashioned school lunches! You got one tray, with spaghetti, a yeast roll, some simple dessert, and corn, and it was filling, hot, and tasty. My buddies and I used to look forward to lunch, but my kids dread it.
I can not help but disagree with the rant from PTHS. The State BOE set guidelines to teach by and then they offered an entirely different tests. I agree that learning should exceed what is offered in the class; however why are we holding children/teachers hostiage for 1 test. The EOCT count 15% of the grade- not 100%. SAT/ACT are given several times through out a high school career to determine whether a child qualifies for a particular. If you compare these tests to buying a new car- if 46% of the people who test drive a particular model of car are dissatisfied- how long do you think that car will remain on the market- not long. Cathy Cox- your tests are flawed or your guidelines are flawed or you tried to do too much at one time. It is time to step back and punt and regroup for the next round. BUt since it is not an election year- nothing will be done and all these children/teachers will be faced with spending their summer studing for 1 test that shows very little other than the fact the BOE can not establish a testing mechanism to meet the guidelines. As far as Grooms- that is done with and no amount of ranting is going to change that. LHS has chosen their fate.
PTHS -- I don't quite understand your derogatory remarks toward me. I have been a resident of Columbia for almost 29 years and have sent my 2 sons to Evans Schools. Perhaps you didn't understand my comments. My point was that the state DOE made 3 significant changes in the same year. 1. They strengthened the Math curriculum for 8th graders. 2. They made the questions on the CRCT more difficult. 3. They set the passing grade 10 poiints higher than the past year. With 3 changes being made at the same time there is no way to differentiate whether the problem lies in learning curriculum, or in the test. A majority of the students missed passing by fewer than 10 points. If the passing score remained at the same benchmark as previous years Columbia County's pass rate probably would have been higher than last years. This demonstrates what an effective job our teachers are actually doing teaching the harder curriculum.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
