Farmington

FARMINGTON -- Farmington School District has had goals in place for several years and many of those are coming to fruition, Bryan Law, superintendent of schools, said in giving the district's annual report to the public.

Without a doubt, Law said, Farmington High has seen the most changes the last couple years with more changes planned for the near future.

He praised the high school staff, noting that teachers are having to change what they've done for 20 years and are doing so willingly and embracing the change.

The changes first started, Law said, with the decision to improve the high schools Advanced Placement program, placing an emphasis on helping students to pass the comprehensive end-of-year AP exams. In 2014-15, 172 students took AP classes and a total of 236 AP exams were given. (Many students take more than one AP class).

Of those taking AP courses, 65 students received a passing grade of 3 or higher and the school awarded $11,300 to students for these passing grades.

Other changes at the high school include a Freshman Academy, now in its fourth year, changing to a career academy model for students and launching new courses and programs for students, including a mentoring program with business and career leaders in the community. New courses will focus on nursing, law enforcement and broadcast journalism careers and a teaching track for students interested in going into education.

Highlights for other schools include emphasis on phonics at Williams and Folsom elementary schools, breakfast in the classroom at Ledbetter Intermediate to help students be prepared to start the school day and additional electives at Lynch Middle School, such as five new on-line foreign language classes, web design and people/professional skills.

All five schools were awarded money last year based on their Benchmark scores from 2014. The schools used the money to purchased technology equipment and other educational tools for their students.

The 2015-16 budget for Farmington projects about $19 million in revenue, $9 million for salaries, about $8 million for operation expense, $2 million for debt service.

The district wide free and reduced lunch ratio is 40 percent and the district's graduation rate was 97.5 percent for the 2013-14 school year.

Law discussed spring 2015 test scores, noting that results for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills show Farmington is competitive in the northwest Arkansas region.

The school's current enrollment is 2,378 students, which is about 75 more students than this time last year.