TIM PRATT

East Mississippi Community College has offered guaranteed tuition to high school graduates from Oktibbeha County since this fall, but a pledge by a local organization to provide additional scholarship money every year will provide an annual opportunity for graduates from Starkville and the surrounding county to attend EMCC for free.

Starkville-Oktibbeha Achieving Results, or SOAR, has pledged to donate up to $10,000 a year to the Oktibbeha County Tuition Guarantee Fund. SOAR’s funds will be designated for Oktibbeha County residents who graduate from public, private or home-schooled high school in May 2010 or later, said Latasha Hill, special events coordinator and administrative assistant for SOAR.

Applicants must apply for all federal and state grants and scholarships possible to be eligible for the program; then the SOAR funds will be used to pay the balance of the students’ tuition, EMCC President Rick Young said. It will be distributed on a first come, first served basis until it runs out.

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DISPATCH STAFF REPORT

Area school districts have much room for improvement, according to new school district accountability scores released today.

The state Department of Education’s new Statewide Accountability System scores measure districts and individual schools against the rest of the nation. The state’s old five-level rating system only compared districts to others within the state.

The system is based on a district or school’s achievement rate on assessment tests, student growth and graduation rate.

Previously, Mississippi schools and districts were measured against in-state achievement, said Kris Kaase, deputy superintendent of instructional programs.

Now, “to be the highest, the school or district has to be the best among the nation,” Kaase said.

The Columbus Municipal School District overall received an “At Risk of Failing” rating, near the bottom of the rankings — Star, High Performing, Successful, Academic Watch, Low Performing, At Risk of Failing, and Failing. The Lowndes County School District was given an “Academic Watch” rating.

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KRISTIN MAMRACK

Local school districts took heavy hits under state budget cuts levied this week, but most school district officials said they expected and prepared for the cuts.

Earlier this week, the state Department of Education told school districts how much money they’ll lose because of budget cuts. Gov. Haley Barbour announced last week that because of weak state tax collections, he was cutting the overall $6 billion state budget by 2.9 percent.

The cuts to education, however, were 5 percent, because education was funded at record levels and Barbour said some other agencies were already receiving less money this year than last.

…

Oktibbeha County School District

The OCSD’s budget was cut by $208,563 for a revised MAEP allocation of $4,262,751.

Additionally, the OCSD lost $634 in instructional supply funding and $4,126 in ad valorem tax allocations, through EEF reductions.

“We lost some positions last year due to attrition, because we felt that more cuts were on the way,” said OCSD Superintendent James R. Covington Jr. “We are tightening our belts once again and making certain that all expenditures are instructionally related or related to the safety of our students. We have not reduced any services, as of yet. We are making certain that we are more efficient in the services we provide. Cuts will be absorbed throughout the budget, not in any particular place, as of yet.”

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BONNIE COBLENTZ

STARKVILLE – School officials handled two more bond issue details Tuesday night in a meeting where they also discussed preliminary data that shows the school district met the state’s average yearly progress standards.

The AYP data will be official Friday, said Beth Sewell, Starkville School District assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

All board members were present for the meeting. The first bond issue business was to authorize school board attorney Dolton McAlpin and the district’s bond attorney Jim Young to refinance an existing $1.44 million bond issue to take advantage of better interest rates. The board discussed this at their last meeting, and gave approval to proceed.

“As of last week’s interest rates, this could save the district from $75,000 to $100,000,” McAlpin said.

The vote to proceed with this refinancing was unanimous on Keith Coble’s motion and Bill Week’s second.

“I’m all in favor of saving money,” Coble said.

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AUGUST 24, 2009 10:43:00 AM

DISPATCH STAFF REPORT

Students in Starkville and Oktibbeha school districts tended to fall behind the state average for students performing at proficient and advanced on the Mississippi Curriculum Test 2.

And both districts’ superintendents agree the test results have helped to identify areas for improvement, areas in which the districts already have plans to make progress.

“These scores are measuring specific content knowledge, and certainly we need to be hitting the marks because this is what our district is measured by,” said Judy Couey, superintendent of Starkville School District. “But I think it tells us a lot of about student performance on the test and how we need to improve instruction as well.

“I can’t be disappointed with test scores. Because of them, we see where we need to improve and how.”

Students in grades three through eight took the MCT2 test in May, testing their knowledge in math and language arts.

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AUGUST 19, 2009 9:42:00 AM

BONNIE COBLENTZ

STARKVILLE – The Starkville School District accepted a 3.4 percent interest rate Tuesday on $8.6 million in bonds it is issuing to fund ongoing school construction across the district.

Four board members were present to accept the bid, which passed unanimously on Pickett Wilson’s motion and Keith Coble’s second. Bill Weeks was absent from the recessed meeting.

The rate, offered by Duncan-Williams Inc., is for $8.58 million in bonds authorized by the voters in the $26.5 million bond issue passed in 2007. District Comptroller Rob Logan said all the rate bids were very good. Of the five received, the rates ranged from a high of 3.9 percent to the low of 3.4 percent that the board accepted.

The board then voted to authorize the district to proceed with issuing the final $3 million in bond issue money. This separate bond is a 0 percent interest rate Qualified School Construction Bond made available through federal stimulus money.

They also told Logan to investigate whether the district can refinance about $1.5 million in Mississippi Adequate Education Program bonds the district has outstanding. Logan said it may be possible to get a better interest rate and lower the district’s annual repayment amount.

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AUGUST 11, 2009 10:23:00 AM

BONNIE COBLENTZ

The Oktibbeha County School District officially adopted its budget for the current school year in a brief meting Monday night.

Verlie Floyd, school district business manager, said the budget has $11.6 million in revenues and $10.8 million in expenses.

“It didn’t change from last time,” Floyd said of last week when she presented the then-proposed budget at a public hearing.

In other business, the board accepted a $500 grant from the Starkville Area Arts Council to support the new arts program at both elementary schools in the district. They also approved a $3,400 change order to the roof repair work completed at East Oktibbeha Elementary School.

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AUGUST 5, 2009 10:53:00 AM

BONNIE COBLENTZ

STARKVILLE — Starkville school officials on Tuesday changed the way high school students can pay for lunch and get dual credit for classes, and handled a long list of personnel issues before school starts Thursday.

Four of the five school board members were present for the meeting; board president Walter Taylor was absent.

The board approved an agreement between the Starkville School District and Official Payments Corporation to allow students or parents to pay for lunch in grades 9-12 using a debit or credit card. Assistant Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin explained that parents and students will have access to an online payment site. Transactions will cost $2.50 each, but a parent can pay on more than one child’s lunch account at the same time.

“They can load up their child’s lunch” account at this Web site, Gonsoulin said.

The system requires some rewiring of the existing data systems at the cafeterias across the school district. The change is being implemented first at the high school and next at Armstrong Middle School once the cafeteria there is expanded. It will follow in time at the district’s remaining schools.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said board member Keith Coble.

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