Schools face hurdles

Hamilton County Schools have taken steps backward in academic achievement and still face large budgetary hurdles, Superintendent Jim Scales said Wednesday.

Math and reading scores are down in elementary and middle schools this year and the district's graduation rate fell several points to 72.6 percent, he said during a state of the schools address to members of the Hamilton County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations.

Preliminary scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test results "are a cause for concern," he said.

The scores are part of the federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress report, used to measure schools and districts for the No Child Left Behind Act.

"This is pervasive across the district," he said "It's not just at schools with high populations of (students who receive) free or reduced-price lunch."

Students from low-income families and who receive free or reduced-price lunch, supplemented by the federal government, often score lower on standardized tests, records show.

Parent Renitta Haynes, who attended Wednesday's meeting, said she is happy with the education her two children are receiving at Brown Academy, but she wondered why all urban, inner-city schools don't offer more rigorous courses such as Brown's several foreign languages.

"If you mirror the same things (as Brown offers) at other schools across the district, maybe we would have higher levels of achievement," she said after Wednesday's meeting.

Fewer students in Hamilton County scored at least 22 on the math section of the ACT -- a measure of college-readiness -- than last year, Dr. Scales said. This year, 23 percent scored 22 or above, compared with 27 percent in 2008, he said.

Despite all the bad news, high school math and reading scores jumped several percentage points, Dr. Scales said.

The number of students scoring proficient or advanced in high school math went from 85 percent in 2008 to 89 percent in 2009, he said.

In high school reading, the number of students scoring proficient or advanced went from 93 percent in 2008 to 96 percent in 2009.

"It's consoling to us," Dr. Scales said. "As long as our kids stay in school, they get better."

In his presentation, Dr. Scales also discussed the school district's finances.

The yearly financial impact of opening new schools is about $5.3 million, which Dr. Scales said is partly to blame for the $20 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2010.

Hamilton County opened Signal Mountain Middle-High School, a new Orchard Knob Elementary, Soddy Elementary and Hixson Middle during the 2009 school year. This year, the district opened East Hamilton School.

Dr. Scales projected that the school system will face a $26 million shortfall in fiscal 2011 and about an $18 million deficit in the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years. The large gaps include nearly $14 million per year in deferred maintenance costs, he said.

Tim Hixson, who is in his first year as president of the Hamilton County Council of PTA, said he appreciated Dr. Scales' straightforward presentation.

"I think they're doing the best with what they have to work with," he said.