ALBANY — Three of the area public school districts within our readership ranked within Albany Business Review’s Top 10.
The business weekly released its report on Friday, June 10, and reached its estimated 7,000 subscribers early last week.
Guilderland, Voorheesville and Bethlehem Central each ranked within the top ten schools. Bethlehem Central topped the list of 84 Capital District schools. It is the fourth consecutive year Bethlehem has topped the publication’s list.
“We are pleased to be recognized again at the top of the list of school districts by the Albany Business Review,” said Superintendent Jody Monroe. “I have always attributed the district’s success to our incredibly dedicated faculty and staff who have made the district’s mission their own. This year, they went above and beyond in support of our students and I will be forever grateful to them for their extraordinary work.”
Albany Business Review Research Director Todd Kehoe explained how the publication took different measures this year due to COVID-19.
“Because Common Core and Regents tests were canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall rankings are a compilation of scores from the previous five years,” Kehoe stated. “The main source for the report is the state Education Department and its School Report Card data for the 2019-20 school year.”
The publication collected district scores in English, math, science, social studies, and graduation rates over the past five years.
All kindergarten through 12th grade districts in the 11-county greater Capital District were assessed. Other districts without a full K-12 curriculum were elsewhere in the annual report.
Bethlehem Central ranked No. 1 with a top score of 100. Voorheesville, whose high school earned top distinctions from the U.S. Education Department last year, tied Niskayuna with a 98.49 score Guilderland ranked ninth overall with a score of 94.19.
The weekly newspaper also ranked school districts in categories such as “spending and taxes” and by how much it pays its top administrators. Monroe’s total compensation between her base salary ($192,787) and additional benefits $45,202) ranked 15th on the list. Shenendehowa’s L. Oliver Robinson topped that list with a total compensation of $308,435.
Bethlehem Central’s $103 million budget for 2020-21 breaks down to $24,918 spent on each of its 4,153 students. That figure places the suburban school district at No. 48.
Edinburg, a rural corner of Saratoga County that boasts a population of 1,384, was No. 1 on the list. Its $3.6 million budget is spread across 60 students from kindergarten to 6th grade. That’s a $60,767 expenditure for each student.
