by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls Central School set its tax levy and tax rates at its meeting this week. The tax levy is $8,526,995, which is an increase of 3.5% over last year’s levy. It has not been changed from the figures presented to the voters at the time of the budget vote. The tax rate for Grafton is $202.77 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, an increase of 3.6%, for Hoosick $61.52 per thousand, an increase of 2.9%, for Petersburgh $29.40 per thousand, an increase of 4%, for Pittstown $27.68 per thousand, an increase of 1.1%, and for White Creek $29.10 per thousand, an increase of 1.8%.
The new principals, Patrick Dailey for the Elementary School and Steven Leunig for the High School, made
presentations on trends in student academic achievement over the last few years. Superintendent Ken Facin said he had asked them to do so to “give them a snapshot of what they’re inheriting,” and to start thinking about setting academic goals and the means to achieve them.
Patrick Dailey presented the numbers from tests given in the elementary school over the last few years, which showed steady improvement in a number of areas. Superintendent Ken Facin thanked him for the presentation, and remarked, “We have seen positive gains in every assessment in the elementary, but we have a long way to go.”
Next, High School Principal Steven Leunig gave a powerpoint presentation on academic achievement in the high school over the past three years. The data showed improvements in most areas but some were up and down. Leunig remarked that seventh and eighth grade English test results are improving but
are not yet up to the state average. He called science and foreign language test results “very nice numbers.” The number of students passing Regents tests went up from 06-07 to 07-08 from 79% to 87%, and the number of students taking the tests increased as well.
The graduation rate has improved over the last three years, from 68% in 06 (2002 cohort) to 82% in 07 (2003 cohort) to 91% in 08 (2004 cohort).
The rest of the topics covered in this week’s School Board meeting will be published next week.