The Baldwinsville Central School District has been named one of the most efficient in the state for administrative efficiency, according to a Western New York publication.
Business First, a Buffalo-based magazine, annually examines data from the New York State Department of Education for 432 Upstate school districts, looking at district spending, staffing levels and debt service to rank districts according to administrative efficiency. Baldwinsville ranked No. 11 statewide, making it the top school in Onondaga County. It beat out 97.7 percent of schools in the state, earning a five-star rating for being in the top 10 percent.
Liverpool (No. 25) and North Syracuse (No. 22) also ranked in the top 44 districts statewide, earning five-star ratings, as well.
The top school district is Lancaster, in Erie County. Other Onondaga County districts to make the top 10 percent were Jamesville-DeWitt (No. 38), Fayetteville-Manlius (No. 33) and West Genesee (No. 22).
Ranks and percentiles were calculated using 2012 data from the New York State Department of Education, which is the most recent available. To be evaluated, districts had to have an enrollment of at least 200 students K through 12, as well as a functioning public high school. Nineteen districts were excluded from this year’s Upstate rankings, 11 because they are too small and eight because they lack a high school.
“These rankings are an indication of the district’s and the board of education’s efforts to provide Baldwinsville’s students with an exceptional education while remaining fiscally responsible to our community members,” said Superintendent Dr. David Hamilton in a release.
For the given year, Baldwinsville’s total budget for the year examined was $86,152,698. Of that, 1.8 percent was spent on administrative costs and 5.92 percent on debt. Liverpool’s 2012-13 budget was $131,049,515, 1.01 percent of which went towards administrative costs and 7.43 percent of which went towards debt service. Finally, North Syracuse had a budget of $145,045,907, spending 1.78 percent on administrative costs and 6.75 percent on debt service.
In last year’s rankings of the top schools in the state, based on Regents, AP and other test scores and graduation rates, Baldwinsville ranked No. 45. Liverpool was at No. 87, while North Syracuse ranked No. 105.
The story also addressed the amount spent per pupil in districts statewide, according to the 2012 data. Baldwinsville ranked No. 28, spending $15,384 per pupil, while Liverpool and North Syracuse did not make the top 50, spending $17,705 and $15,961 per pupil, respectively. Those figures are arrived at by dividing the annual budget by the number of students enrolled in the district.
No Onondaga County schools were among the top 50 districts spending the most per pupil.
Other Onondaga County schools in the top 50 were J-D (No. 48), Marcellus (No. 43) and West Genesee (No. 11)
According to their website, Business First does not expect parents to base their educational decisions solely on this data.
“Academic performance is important, but so are several other factors, including extracurricular activities, the school environment and the feel of the surrounding community,” the website said. “Our aim is to simplify the mounds of test data released by the education department. It’s difficult to determine what a single test score means. It’s easier to understand a comprehensive ranking.”
To view the study and databases of data per district, visit bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2014/10/09/lancaster-is-named-upstates-most-efficient-school.html
