Union 107’s report card proves schools’ worth

BAILEYVILLE — Conflict over the size of the Baileyville school budget has attracted public attention, but Union 107 Superintendent Robert W. Fifield said he believed that Baileyville’s “Report Card” from the Department of Educational and Cultural Services showed the schools were doing a good job.

Report Cards were distributed to all schools in Maine for the first time last year. They are touted by DECS Commissioner Eve Bither as a means by which Maine residents measure their schools against the rest of the state as a whole. Schools whose most recent three-year average scores on the Maine Educational Assessment Test were higher than their previous three-year averages in at least four subjects received a star from the commissioner for their performance.

Union 107 includes schools in Baileyville and Princeton. Fifield said he was gratified that the schools in both communities were designated Star School Units for their performance.

The reports compared local student scores on the fourth-grade and eighth-grade MEA tests with average scores across the state, and compared the local school with state averages in several categories that include pupil characteristics, staff resources and school finance.

The Baileyville elementary school was awarded a star for the performance of its fourth grade in the MEA. “The most recent grade four test results show that these students are within the comparison-score bands designated for schools with similar background characteristics. This report card shows the school test scores below state average, but within the test band range for all subjects. The most recent MEA score averages also showed gains in reading writing, science, and social studies,” Fifield said.

Fifield said that the Baileyville eighth grade also showed gains over previous MEA scores in reading, mathematics, and the humanities. “The average score in social studies is high enough that had they scored only a few points more they too would have been a Star School Unit. They were within inches of getting that star,” he said.

The eleventh grade MEA averages in Baileyville Fifield said, all were within their comparison-band scores. “In the Baileyville 11th grade, the most recent scores showed increases in humanities and social studies. There are gains in science, and significant gains in mathematics and writing that take the Baileyville students above this year’s mean score for the state. I see these as important gains and the kids should be given a pat on the back for their efforts,” he said.

In Princeton, Fifield said, both the fourth and eighth grades were rated as Star School Units. “The Princeton grade four test results show these students to be above the state average in writing and science and their averages show gains in writing, math, science, social studies and the humanities.” he said.

The superintendent said that at the eighth-grade level, the students were above the state average in reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies and have shown gains in science and the humanities.

The Report Card showed that in both the Princeton and Baileyville segments of Union 107, the average daily attendance was equivalent to state norms, and that the educational level of the staff in both Princeton and Baileyville schools was very close to the state average.

One important category where the two communities differed was in their per-pupil expenditure. At the elementary level, the average state expenditure per pupil during the 1987-88 school year was $2,757. In Baileyville the average cost per student was $3,331, about $500 more than the state average. In Princeton, per-pupil expenditure was $2,621, more than $100 less than the state average.

At the secondary level, Baileyville outspent the state average by more than $1000. During the 1987-88 school year, the average per-pupil expenditure in the state was $3,814; Baileyville spent $4,945.

Princeton spent about $3,156 for each of its secondary students, $700 less than the state average, but since Princeton does not have a high school, the secondary costs reflected only the cost of the seventh and eighth grades.

During the period covered by the report, about 72 percent of the Princeton school budget was funded by the state, but the Baileyville schools were funded entirely by local property taxes.

Fifield said he attributed much of the progress made in Princeton to the energy the community had invested in the school system and he said he would work to draw even more parents into school activities in Princeton and Baileyville.

“I want to get more parents involved. I am not satisfied with just small gains. I want to make larger gains and I feel strongly that if I can get parents more involved we will see greater gains,” he said.