SHARON Test scores net grants for school

Real estate tax collections are on schedule but per capita revenues are lagging, a school official said.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- The city's C.M. Musser Elementary School has been named a Governor's Achievement School by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one of only three elementary schools in the state to get the honor this year.
Michael J. Calla, supervisor of curriculum and instruction, told the Sharon City School board Wednesday that the award recognizes the improved performance of Musser fifth-graders on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment standardized test.
The honor carries a $25,000 grant that can be used for work on continued performance improvement and the purchase of computer and other educational equipment.
Being named a Governor's Achievement School wasn't the only result of the improved scores on the PSSA test.
Calla said Musser also received a $22,260 performance incentive award from the state. That money can be spent for the same general purposes.
Those weren't the only grants Calla had to announce.
The school district has also been awarded a federal Enhancing Education Through Technology grant of $60,200 a year for each of the next two years, he said.
The money is part of the federal No Child Left Behind program but comes out of a competitive fund administered by the state, Calla said.
It will be used for data tracking of student performance as well as staff development but can also be used to update the district's Web site, he said.
Tax funds
In other matters, the board learned that real estate tax revenues for the 2002-03 school year should reach the projected budget amount of $4,186,080 but that per capita tax revenues likely won't reach their proposed $100,000 total.
Current real estate tax collections stand at $4,134,293 and that is $51,787 short of the proposed budget, said James Wolf, district business manager.
He told the board that additional collections in December and January should enable the district to reach its budget goal.
He painted another picture for per-capita tax revenues, noting that total receipts so far total $82,791, more than $17,000 short of the budget goal and that December and January collections aren't likely to help much.
Per capita tax revenues totaled about $140,000 20 years ago but have been dropping steadily ever since, he said.
Real estate taxes are set at 44 mills and cost the average residential property owner about $15 per mill, but the per-capita tax is a flat $10 fee assessed against residents of the district over age 18.