It was report card day Friday, but this time, it wasn't for students.
Instead, the Alabama State Department of Education released its annual report card for all public schools, with grades for overall systems and individual scores for each school.
Once again, Franklin County Schools Superintendent of Education Greg Hamilton was able to share with his Board of Education a good report card that shows both success and improvement.
For the 2023-24 school year, Franklin County Schools scored an 88, the upper end of range for the 'B' letter grade. That's an improvement of two points from the system's 86 received for the 2022-23 academic year.
“I would like for you to join me in celebrating the tremendous success of the Franklin County School System,” Hamilton told board members in an email. “As you know, our school system is woefully underfunded by the State of Alabama. To achieve such a high level of success and to continue to see improvement within our schools, considering the lack of resources needed, is absolutely amazing.
“I want to recognize and thank our administrators, teachers, staff and students for a job well done. And thank you for trusting me with the decisions that help to guide our school system,” he added.
And there's good news for Franklin County Schools' financial picture after Alabama voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment One in the November 5, 2024, general election. The school system will now have legal authority to sell or lease Section 16 lands it owns on Interstate 22, at the intersection with Alabama 13.
Sale of these lucrative 329 acres, located at the exit for the primary north-south Tuscaloosa to Shoals corridor, could dramatically improve the financial future of the school system, Hamilton said, although the process of how to market and/or sell the property is in its infancy stages.
The state report card uses six indicators to determine a school system's overall score and a score for each of its schools. Just like grades in schools, 90-100 is an 'A,' 80-89 a 'B,' 70-79 a 'C,' 60-69 a 'D,' and below 60 is a failing grade.
Those indicators include academic achievement, academic growth, graduation rates, college and career readiness, chronic absenteeism and progress in English efficiency for schools. The English language efficiency indicator applies only to schools with at least 20 students learning the English language in tested grades.
Of the system's nine graded schools, Red Bay Elementary School received the top individual grade, a 90-A. That's an improvement of six points from the school's 84 grade last year.
Vina High School and East Franklin Junior High School each scored an 88, the second-highest among Franklin County Schools. Red Bay High School was next with an 87, followed by Phil Campbell Elementary School's 86. Phil Campbell High School and Belgreen High School received an 85, with Tharptown Elementary School scoring an 84 and Tharptown High School an 83.
Six of the nine schools saw their report card overall grade improve from 2022-23, including East Franklin (85 to 88), Phil Campbell Elementary (82 to 86), Phil Campbell High School (78 to 85), Red Bay Elementary (84 to 90), Tharptown Elementary (81 to 84) and Vina (82 to 88).
Red Bay High School's numeric grade remained the same from 2022-23. Belgreen High School (88 to 85) and Tharptown High School (85 to 83) saw their scores drop from the previous academic year.
