No Increase In BCS Tax Levy

by David Flint
The Berlin School Board at their meeting Tuesday set the tax levy for the 2009-10 school year at the amount approved by the voters in May, which is $8,317,221. The levy is the same as for the previous year. Tax rates in the individual towns, however, vary based on assessed valuation and equalization rates. The levy results in the following tax rates per thousand and percentage changes in the individual towns. Only one town, Berlin, will see an increase this year.
Berlin           $59.90    +3.99%
Grafton       $173.45    -1.24%
Petersburgh   $25.09    -1.57%
Poestenkill    $58.05    -5.29%
Stephentown $46.42    -3.29%
Business Manager Sandra Owens in her memo to the Superintendent noted that the tax rate per thousand on full value district-wide is $13.93. This number is down 3.4% from last year and has showed a steady decline since the 2003-04 school year when it was $19.12. According to Owens, this indicates that the full value of property in the District is increasing at a faster rate than the school taxes. Berlin over the past year had an 8.09% increase in true value. Grafton increased by 2.43%, Petersburgh by 4.51% and Poestenkill by 1.74%.  Stephentown had a slight decrease of 0.01%.
PEP Grant
Interim Superintendent Charlotte Gregory announced that the District will be the recipient of a grant in the amount of $1,368,932 over three years from the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP). The funds will be shared about 50/50 with the Troy school district, but Berlin as the grant writer will be the Lead Educational Agency and will administer the grant. Sandra Honsinger, Phys Ed and Health teacher, will be the Project Coordinator.
Gregory said the grant will provide a wide variety of equipment and will revamp physical training in the schools from early childhood to twelfth grade, but it is a school/community project not limited to students. Gregory expects to involve not only the District Wellness Committee and the PTOs but also the youth programs and senior clubs in the towns that make up the District with an eye to setting up fitness centers at four locations including the Stephentown school.
Distance Learning
The Board passed a resolution to authorize participation in the BOCES Distance Learning Program. The installation cost to set up the classroom and connections comes to $119,450, but a grant of $100,000 received a while back from Senator Bruno’s office for this purpose will offset most of that. The ongoing annual cost to the District will be about $11,000 a year. Some of this can also be recouped if Berlin teachers become instructors for some of the online courses.
The BOCES program provides interactive classroom learning via electronic media. With Berlin participating there will now be 45 school districts in the program in northeastern New York. Students will have the opportunity to take courses that would otherwise not be available to them such as Bio-Ethics, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, AP Psychology, AP World History, Meteorology, History of Warfare, Sign Language, Theater Arts and Veterinary Science.
Academic Report
Testing Coordinator Eileen Leffler, Math Coordinator Lauren Nichols and Middle School Principal Cathy Allain presented a comprehensive report on results of testing, focusing on both State assessments and in-house tests.
Elementary reading tests given locally show that between 71% and 76% of students in kindergarten through second grade are reading at the expected grade level. In third through fifth grade these percentages rise to between 83% and 89%. Results are similar for local math assessments in grades k-5. The local math assessment for grades 6-8, which was reported to be a big change and very hard for students, found proficiency in 63% of sixth-graders, 62% of seventh-graders and 68% of eighth-graders.
Berlin students in grades 3 and 5-8 showed marked improvement on the State tests this year for English Language Arts (ELA). In grade 4 proficiency stayed about even, dropping by one percentage point to 69%. But the rates jumped from 62% to 76% in grade 3, from 72% to 82% in grade 5, from 65% to 73% in grade 6, from 66% to 77% in grade 7 and, amazingly, from 28% to 63% in grade 8.
State math test results showed similar results with steady improvement over a four-year period. Grade 3 had a slight dip this year over last year, but all other grades increased in proficiency, some dramatically. All grades except grade 8 are in the mid or high 80s. Grade 8 showed a 71% proficiency, but that is compared to 28% last year. Regarding the State tests, Nichols said, “We are getting close to 90%, but there is still a lot of work to be done,” in getting students up to meeting and exceeding grade level expectations.
State tests in science grade 3 and 8 are in the 80% range. The 2008 results show social studies grade 5 at 88% and social studies grade 8 at 51%. The 2009 Social Studies results are not available yet.
High School Principal Dennis Healy explained a drop this year in Regents level ELA scores from 99% to 79% as being for a class that was having a lot of trouble in middle school where they performed at the 28% level. A similar drop in Integrated Algebra he said was the result of testing only two classes last year versus all students this year. Other Regents results, including Global History, U.S. History, Earth Science, Living Environment, Chemistry, Physics and Spanish showed moderate or marked improvement over last year. In the first year of testing for Geometry, 84% were found to be proficient.
Former Board Member Don French found the scores for Regents algebra and geometry to be “less than desirable with approximately 27% of the algebra class and 16% of the geometry class failing to achieve a 65 or better.” French said that only 3% of the algebra class got an A in these exams and only one student in geometry and that one student was tutored. On the other hand, he had been informed that many of the geometry students had maintained an A average during the school year, indicating that, “ there is either a disconnect with what is being taught and tested in the class and what is on the Regents exam, or the depth and time spent on the material is not adequate.” French urged the Board to do program evaluation on both the algebra and geometry curriculums, along with the trigonometry curriculum which is a new Regents course this year. He also asked that the Administration develop key milestones and targets to be met throughout the year and to report on these to the School Board.
Next Meeting
The Board set their next regular meeting for Tuesday, September 15, at 7 pm at the High School.