Updates
for past columns:
--The
record 3,647 Advanced Placement tests administered in May at the four
comprehensive high schools in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified
School District earned an 86 percent “pass” rate, considerably
higher than the 64 percent California and 61 percent global results.
Passing
is a score of three or better on a five-point scale, although
individual universities make their own decisions on awarding credit
for scores on the 34 subject tests AP offers. About 370,000 tests
were administered in California and nearly 4.5 million globally.
The
number of tests administered and “pass” percentages at district
campuses were 570 and 82 percent at El Dorado; 657 and 84 percent at
Esperanza; 1,493 and 87 percent at Valencia; and 927 and 91 percent
at Yorba Linda.
Even
better results were reported for the International Baccalaureate
program at Valencia High School, where 336 tests achieved a passing
score of four or higher on a seven-point scale out of 348 tests
administered, for a 97 percent “pass” rate.
Coordinator
Fred Jenkins told me 41 of 43 senior candidates earned IB's Full
Diploma for 2015, and 71 seniors are on track to earn the Full
Diploma in 2016. He stated the program this year has 101 juniors, 143
sophomores and 189 freshmen--”our largest freshman class ever.”
IB has
awarded 1.3 million Full Diplomas in 140 countries, with nearly
142,000 students taking the tests earlier this year. The next IB
tests will be administered April 29 - May 13, 2016, while AP tests
are scheduled May 2 -13, 2016.
--School
district officials have closed the financial books on the 2014-15
fiscal year, with a report filed with the county Department of
Education. The “unaudited actuals” report noted
the
district's expenditures exceeded revenues by $331,908.
Fortunately,
the district has healthy reserves – considered healthy for schools,
that is. This fiscal year began with some $16 million on hand,
with more than $11 million “designated for economic uncertainties,”
representing 5 percent of last year's outlays of more than $220
million.
About 84
percent of expenses went to salaries and benefits. Most revenue (some
$180 million) came from the state's new Local Control Funding Formula
that provides a base amount for average daily attendance supplemented
by grants tied to student demographics.
--Steady
progress continues regarding the city-owned Trueblood/Janeway house
at Lemon Drive and Park Avenue. The historic two-story home east of
the post office and visible from Imperial Highway is again open to
rehabilitation plans.
The city
is reissuing a request for proposals that includes invitations to
prior organizations that submitted offers in 2010, asking groups “to
consider a partnership with the city to rehabilitate” the home and
“allow for sale of the property to an interested party with certain
conditions and constraints to renovate the home to historic
standards.”