Fort Mill Schools Ranked Top In The State

South Carolina State Department of Education released the 2013 School Report Cards on November 8th. The Fort Mill School District (York District 4) once again received excellent absolute ratings. In fact all 13 of the Fort Mill Schools received excellent ratings.

Jenny Overman of the Fort Mill Times wrote:

When ranked by its absolute index, a number derived from the district’s PACT scores, average student performance, end of course performance tests and on-time graduation rate, the Fort Mill School District was the top performing district in the state. Lexington and Spartanburg were second and third, respectively.

There were approximately 11,002 student attending 13 Fort Mill Schools in 2013. There are 2 high schools. The state’s highest percent of high school students who passed their 2013 High School Assessment Program Test was Fort Mill at 95.3 percent.

South Carolina Schools in general are improving each year. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Mick Zais issued the following statement upon public release of the 2013 state report cards, which saw across-the-board improvements in numerous categories.

“I am so proud of the great progress that our schools have made in increasing our graduation rates,” said Dr. Zais. “Teachers, students, and parents have worked together all year long and earned these gains. Let’s congratulate them and continue doing our best working as one team to move South Carolina forward,” said Dr. Zais.

Here is Fort Mill School Superintendent Dr Epps statement posted in the Fort Mill School District Report Card 2013:

For the 2012-13 school year, Fort Mill School District (FMSD) continued to be one of the fastest growing school districts, per capita, in the state of South Carolina. In spite of the most depressed economy since the 1930’s, the district grew at a rate of 6% which equated to over 400 new students. The enrollment at year-end was approximately 11,134 students.
The challenge for FMSD continues to be funding the operating needs of a growing district with modest or flat annual increases in state funding. The district again was
rated “Excellent” on the state report card system. This report is based largely on student achievement results. Individual and student awards were too numerous to
mention, but the following deserve special recognition: All schools received Palmetto Gold awards for outstanding student academic performance; over $17,000,000 in scholarship opportunities were awarded to high school graduates; Fort Mill High School’s band won the AAAA state marching band championship and participated in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland; and Nation Ford High School’s band was selected to participate in the World War II Memorial Service at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The district was also successful by gaining voter approval for $53 million to increase student enrollment at both high schools, provide technological improvements, enhance safety measures, and add turf fields at FMHS and NFHS.

Even though we face additional financial issues as we go forward, the School Board, the administration, the teachers and staff pledge to continue to provide a quality
educational program to our constituents. In fact, we developed a three-year spending plan to prepare for future obligations, including the opening of two new elementary schools in 2014. As always, we will focus our resources at the classroom level. Thank you for your past support and the district looks forward to continuing to work with our community in ensuring that we adhere to the motto of “Children First.”

Congratulations to the Fort Mill School District staff and students for another year of “excellence”!