The Audit Team observed a hard working, enthusiastic and industrious staff that focused its attention on the instruction of students in the Osceola County Schools. The team was impressed by the quality of programs, facilities and services in a school system that spends only $5111 per pupil per year, not including capital expenditures. The Florida Department of Education's Office of Funding and Financial Reporting verifies that Osceola is spending approximately $300-$1200 per student less than the state average at the elementary level and about $1150 per high school student less than the state average. (See Appendix F, Report of Resources Provided to "A," "D," and "F" Schools.)

Osceola County School District's School Board and administration have been challenged to maintain program and services in the face of dramatic annual increases in students over the past six school years:

The growth requires the district to operate with a lean human resources budget through the employment of newly credentialed teachers and teachers with temporary credentials. Osceola County School District reports that 23.9% of its teaching staff in the 1999-2000 school year was serving classrooms with either temporary certification or a letter of authorization.

Concurrently, however, 11 more Osceola County teachers are among the 4,694 primary and secondary school teachers from 49 states and the District of Columbia who have earned this year the highest professional credential in the field of teaching, National Board Certification. Six other Osceola teachers were certified in previous years making Osceola's total at 17 National Board Certified Teachers. The certification is a voluntary and rigorous performance-based assessment that takes nearly one year to complete.

The Audit Team was impressed with the School Board and administration’s ability to cope with the complexity presented by increasing enrollment. Compounding the challenges to house, appropriately assign, and teach large annual increases in student enrollment in Osceola County is the effect of double-digit mobility:

The student population of Osceola County Schools is also widely diverse. Over the past 4 years, the district has gratefully accepted and served increasing numbers of students whose principal language is not English.

There has been a significant change in the resources of families with children in Osceola County over the past 4 years. These changes can be reflected in the percentage of students served by Osceola County Schools whose families qualify for free and reducedprice lunch. The level of income to qualify for free and reduced-price lunch is higher than the income levels set for families living in poverty. School resources are further stretched to serve students who clearly qualify for this additional support.

Alternative Programs

Osceola County Schools operates six alternative programs for high school-ages students, in addition to the PATHS at TECO vocational technical program:

• Challenger Learning Center (grades 9-12) captures students who formerly withdrew from school.
• COPE (grades 6-12) serves pregnant students.
• Endeavor (grades 9-12) requires 15 class hours plus 15 on-the-job training hours per week for on year only.
• GED Exit Option. Former dropouts combine academic and vocational studies with employment all leading to a GED.
• Project Future (grades 9-12). In partnership with Walt Disney World Company, students combine paid work at EPCOT with classes at EPCOT in academic and future work-related experience.
• Transition (grades 9-10) helps grade 9 and 10 students catch up and return to a regular high school program.

Challenger Learning, Project COPE, Project Future, and the Transition Center are programs that students may enter voluntarily. At Challenger, Project Future and the Transition Center, students must meet DOP requirements.

In addition to the programs listed above, New Beginnings and Cornerstone are programs that allow students to continue their education in lieu of expulsion. At this time, no testing is done, but, as soon as funding is available, they would like to use the STAR test to measure the reading and math skills of all students as they enter and exit these alternative programs.

Although SchoolMatch consultants were not asked to review academic and other success outcomes in these programs, the descriptions in Appendix G provide a clearer picture of all the possible avenues to pursue successful high school outcomes in Osceola County Public Schools.