KELSO'S GAINING GROUND

NEW HAMBURG -- Superintendent Robert White said the Kelso School District is moving steadily forward.

White said a report of educational conditions during the 1998-99 school year indicates "steady gains" by the district in some areas and "continued effort" in others.

The report is a mandatory profile of the district that is released annually to district patrons and local media and state legislators.

"We were happy with it," White said. "We just showed steady gains in some of our areas."

Classroom conditions have steadily improved since the 1994-95 school year when Kelso district had a student-teacher ratio of 26 to 1. The ratio has improved somewhat largely due to a downward trend in enrollment, White said.

Last year, the district's classes were below the state average of 19-to-1 for the second year.

"Enrollment's down just a little bit, which had some effect," he said. "We've just been working at that for awhile now."

Teachers saw some increase in their salaries although White said the district "is not competitive with some close by."

Kelso's average teacher salary was $23,710, nearly $10,000 less than the state average. At the same time, the district retained a number of veteran teachers, equaling the state's average of 15 years of experience.

Student achievement appeared to progress over previous years, but White said a higher than normal percentage of students being served in special education programs is "being carefully reviewed" by school officials.

Although his district has seen modest increases in revenue from growth in assessed valuation, White said school officials must be cautious in budgeting resources in the future.

No problems are expected, but "every district's got to be careful" with its funds, he said.

"Hopefully, we don't go down in enrollment and just don't overspend," White said.

Tuesday: Leopold School District report card