Budget Limbo and High School Test Scores at Last Night's School Board Meeting

The local board of education heard bad news about instability in the district's budget outlook, but generally good news  about high school test scores. at its Tuesday night meeting.

The continued budget limbo in Sacramento has school districts still guessing how to prepare for potentially drastic cuts. 

Song Chin-Bendib, assistant superintendent of business services for , gave an update on the district's budget outlook to the Board of Education. 

School districts across the state have been keeping their fingers crossed that an extension on tax increases would be placed before voters in the June election and passed. But now that Governor Jerry Brown has suspended negotiations with Republican lawmakers, who opposed the measure, that won't happen.

There is talk in Sacramento about trying to get the tax extension on the November ballot, Chin-Bendib reported. Without it, $4 billion to $5 billion could be cut from K-12 education statewide.

For the district, that would mean between $660 and $825 less in state funds per student.

"We have managed our finances," Chin-Bendib said. She noted that the district has cut its budget two times in the last few years to stay afloat, but with more state budget cuts, the district could go in the red by as much as $1.8 million.

The cost of keeping the district running for one month? Between $5 million and $6 million.

San Leandro would not be alone, Chin-Bendib said, as two-thirds of school districts statewide would also run negative budgets if there is another round of deep cuts to education at the state level.

* You can read Chin-Bendib's presentation on the budget by clicking on the image attached to this article.

High School Test Scores

Daniel Chaja, the assistant director of research and program evaluation for the district, presented detailed data on graduation rates and on student assessments, including for the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), Advanced Placement (AP) tests and the SAT reasoning test.

Chaja said San Leandro's graduation rate had taken a small dip but is now on the rise. In 2009, 81.74 percent of seniors at and  High graduated. In 2010, that number stood at 83.59 percent.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind program, all schools and districts much reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2019.

In order to graduate, students statewide must pass the California High School Exit Exam. This year's sophomores had their first chance at passing the exam in February. Newly released data show 78 percent of sophomores passed the English language arts portion of the test, and 76 percent passed the math portion. 

On the test administered in February 2011 Asian students outperformed all other subgroups of students, with a 92 percent passage rate for English language arts and 99 percent for math. They were followed by Filipino students.

Those who received the lowest passage rates were English learners: 34 percent passed English language arts and 51 percent passed math.

More San Leandro students appear to be taking Advanced Placement (AP) tests for college credit, according to data presented by Chaja.

In 2010, 551 AP exams were administered to students in the district. More detailed data has yet to be released. 

That's up from 2009, when 340 San Leandro students took a total of 528 AP exams, netting 319 test scores of a three or better, which may earn them college credit at their respective institutions.

In comparison, fewer students took AP tests in 2008. A total of 261 students took 390 exams that year, earning 283 scores of a three or better.

In both 2008 and 2009, San Leandro students outperformed their peers in several neighboring school districts. The number of test scores of three or better was higher in San Leandro than in each of the San Lorenzo, Hayward and Newark school districts, despite the fact that those districts had either a similar or higher number of test takers, according to Chaja.

The College Board, which administers AP tests, does not provide detailed public information at the local level breaking down how students perform as subgroups, such as by race or ethnicity, or on individual tests. 

Another indicator of college preparedness is the SAT reasoning test, a three-part standardized exam that takes nearly four hours to complete. Many colleges and universities require the SATfor admission. Since 2006, when the test was revamped, scores may range from a low of 600 to a perfect score of 2400 points.

Between 2008 and 2010, the number of SLUSD students taking the test decreased from 318 to 275, while average scores for the critical reading, writing and math sections increased slightly by about 20 points each.

Compared to neighboring districts with similar demographics, a high percentage of San Leandro USD seniors are taking the SAT.