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Officials discuss rating of excellent
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
BOARDMAN
At its meeting Monday, the Boardman school board heard details about the district’s excellent rating from the Ohio Department of Education.
For the fifth year in a row, the Boardman school district has received an excellent rating from the state, Dr. Linda Ross, director of instruction, told board of education members.
“This is quite a year for academic accomplishments,” she said at Monday’s meeting. “We’ve had the highest achievement data that we have ever had in Boardman schools this past year.”
The district met all 26 performance indicators and earned a 103.3 out of 120 points on the performance index.
This is the highest performance index Boardman students have attained since the inception of the state report card, Ross said.
“The performance index reflects the achievement of all students, at all levels,” she added.
Despite its excellent rating, however, the district continues to lose money to community/charter schools, said Richard Santilli, treasurer.
In school year 2010-11, the district lost about 100 students to community/charter schools, taking with them, on average, $8,046 each, he said.
“Those students represent just a little bit over 2 percent of our total student population,” he said. “When I look at our state foundation [money] and I take that into consideration, they’re getting a little over 11 percent of our funding from basic aid.”
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd, told board members about a bill he has introduced.
“Senate Bill 175 just says that students cannot go to charter schools that have a lesser rating than the public school that they’re currently going to,” he said.
The bill would not take away options from parents and students.
“It’s just saying that you cannot go from a high- performing public school to a low-performing charter school,” he said. “If you’re going to a public school that is in academic emergency and isn’t serving the students correctly, and there’s a better option, then go for it. This bill wouldn’t prohibit that.”