State education officials recently released the 2022 Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, results from the first fully in-person school year for Kings Canyon Unified Student post-pandemic.
At Kings Canyon Unified, only 47% of students met or exceeded the English standard, and 34% met or exceeded the math standard which translates to over 5,000 students being below the English standard and over 6,000 students being below the math standard.
Past test results from the California Department of Education show Kings Canyon Unified scores were equally as poor before the pandemic. In 2017, only 47% of students met or exceeded the English standard, and 33% met or exceeded the math standard.
In addition to state test scores, graduation rates at Kings Canyon Unified continue to fall. In the 2019-2020 school year, Reedley High achieved a 98.2% graduation. Fast-forward to 2021, a drop to 90.7%. The district-wide graduation dropped from 89.4% to 81.3% in the same time frame, bringing it below the state average.
At December 13th’s board meeting, school board members voted to approve numerous expenditures and agreements. One of the most notable is a 9.75% raise for Superintendent John Campbell. The pay raise itself is greater than the Reedley individual median income and brings the total salary to over $283,000.
Board Members Noel Remick, Sarah Rola, Robin Tyler, Nancy Hernandez and Craig Cooper voted to approve the raise and voted in lockstep on every item on the agenda. Board Member Monica Benner decided to abstain from numerous votes due to conflicts of interest stemming from previous employment in the school administration.
After the vote, Board Members continued on with oral reports which ranged from reflections from the annual California School Board Association conference in San Diego to recent events at KCUSD campuses. In their remarks, Board Member Craig Cooper stated, “We know how well we do things here” and Board Member Sarah Rola stated, “Our numbers are good”.
Other agenda items voted on included purchase orders spanning 19 days, totaling over $7.2 million ranging from $4,495 for new furniture to $1,800 to improve “culture and climate” at Dunlap School to over $20,000 spent at Office Depot, Save Mart, and Walmart for office supplies. The 2022-2023 interim budget was also presented and voted upon which tallies projected expenditures at $248 million. The budget breaks down into 72% for payroll, 18% for services and operating, and 10% for books and supplies.
Complete board meeting details can be found at www.kcusd.com. Education data used in this report originated from kcusd.com, the California Department of Education.
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