Quick Hits: School Board Authorizes Lower Tax Rates for 2011-12

It was a brief meeting Tuesday for the , which heard several reports from district administrators and passed a resolution to lower the 2012-12 operating tax rates.

Only have time for the quick hits? Here's a rundown of what happened during Tuesday's meeting:

Better-than-expected property values spur decrease in tax rates

School board trustees voted Tuesday night to authorize a new operating tax rate for 2011-12, reducing the millage rate on homestead properties from 10.0489 mills to 10.0240.

The reduction, assistant superintedent for business services Debbie Piesz said, is due to higher-than-expected property values for homes in the district. Every fall, Piesz said the state releases taxable values and they were pleasantly surprised to find the property rates higher than they projected in the spring.

The 0.0249-mill reduction means that instead of paying $10.05 per $1,000 in taxable value on their home, residents will instead pay $10.02. Residents will see the savings on their Dec. 1 tax bills.

School board recognizes late employee

School board members also passed a resolution honoring the late Katherine Young, a district employee from 1978-2006. Young was a Spanish and world history teacher until 1993 and then was a department chair for world languages. Young died Sept. 21. Deputy superintendent Paul DeAngelis, filling in for the absent David Larson, said the district received several unsolicited letters from Young's colleagues. "Young just didn't love kids," he read from one letter. "She believes in kids."

'Data dashboard' updated with new information, test scores

Stephen Palmer, assistant superintendent for instruction, presented a report to the school board Tuesday on Birmingham Public Schools' "data dashboard," the collection of data found on the district's website.

Since the data was first posted last year, Palmer said administrators have now added new information, including 2010 MEAP scores and information on high school students taking AP classes and AP test results.