The Saint Cloud Times November 7, 2008

HEADLINE: No Child Left Behind May Cost School District More

By Dave Aeikens

St. Cloud school district expects to spend thousands of dollars this school year to bus and tutor students because some of its schools continue to miss No Child Left Behind benchmarks.

St. Cloud could for the first time spend close to the $237,000 it has set aside to meet the requirements. In four years, St. Cloud has never spent more than $50,000 a year on additional services to meet No Child Left Behind requirements.

Schools that fail to make what is called adequate yearly progress are required to provide students with free transportation to another school in the district. Some are required to pay for tutoring.

The staff member who oversees the district's federal reading and math assistance program says the specific cost depends on how many parents choose tutoring

"We have a lot more families taking advantage of school choice than we ever had before," said Susan Currey, coordinator of Title 1 programs for St. Cloud.

Schools that don't have enough students pass mandated state and federal reading and math tests can be penalized if they receive federal dollars for Title 1, a program that provides assistance for reading and math instruction for low-income students.

The district will pay for the busing and tutoring by using 20 percent of the $1.2 million it receives for Title 1.

In St. Cloud, Discovery, Talahi and Madison elementary schools must provide the school choice or tutoring.

Discovery also has to develop a school improvement plan. The improvement plan was due Monday at the Minnesota Department of Education. If the school does not make adequate yearly progress in 2009, the district will have to develop a reorganization plan, which can include moving existing staff out of the school. And if the school does not make progress again the next year, the plan is implemented.

Senior administrators have discussed what to do if Discovery has to reorganize, Superintendent Steve Jordahl said.

"I think we have to be prepared," he said.

The issue now is providing the transportation and finding out how many parents want the tutoring. Parents have until Nov. 14 to sign up for it. They can choose from five approved programs and the district will pay up to $1,148.50 for each student, Currey said. Once people indicate they want tutoring, the district will know the total cost.

In 2007, 40 Discovery students chose tutoring and the district paid about $31,000.

This year, 77 children who live in the Madison, Discovery or Talahi attendance areas are taking the bus to other schools in the district at the district's expense.

St. Cloud schools allow students to attend any school in the district if they provide their own transportation. Jordahl and Principal Joni Olson said they doubt all of the 22 Discovery children taking advantage of the free rides are doing so because they are dissatisfied with the school.

Enrollment numbers at Talahi and Discovery show that overall both schools lost students from 2007 to 2008. Discovery dropped from 648 to 615 and Talahi 675 to 642. Madison moved its sixth-graders to North Junior High School this year, making comparisons difficult.

Jordahl said the parents are moving their children from Discovery to accommodate day care and work needs.

"I feel Discovery is a great school. We have great teachers, a wonderful leader and great class sizes," Jordahl said.

Olson said the families that are taking advantage of the busing from Discovery are doing it for reasons other than the concerns about the school.

She said work is being done to try to get the students' test scores to a level where the school makes adequate yearly progress.

"I think our biggest goal is to really regularly monitor the progress of our students in reading and math so we can ensure consistent growth and accelerate learning," Olson said.

At Talahi, where 36 students have chosen to be bused elsewhere, leaving 642 students, Principal Jason Scherber said parents choose schools for lots of reasons.

"I would say we have a very good school here, and it is getting better and better every day through the continuity of programming," said Scherber, who is in his first year at Talahi.