The Newport Independent School District (NISD) ranks in the bottom 5 percent for student achievement in Kentucky, despite being one of the state’s most well-funded districts, according to a Newport Education Task Force report.
The report was publicly presented for the first time during a special meeting of the city commission last Thursday. The report discussed the state of NISD.
In 2019, ReNewport, a community organization, commissioned the Newport Education Task Force, composed of experienced educational leaders throughout the city. The Task Force’s goal is to amass relevant data in an effort to support the NISD’s quest toward improved performance.
Before the report was presented to the commission last Thursday, the task force presented it to the school board and Superintendent Tony Watts a few days prior.
“Mr. Watts, him and his staff, are actually going to show us (school board) the areas pointed out in the report, what we’re doing to address them, and the impact it’s having, and is it going to yield the results that we need for things to change for our students,” Newport Board of Education Chairwoman Ramona Malone said.
That data in the report shows NISD is behind academically compared to other similarly-sized districts in Northern Kentucky and the state.
This is the second report the task force has produced. The first was published and presented in 2020. The second report highlighted many of the same issues as the first, Malone said.
“The report did not really reveal anything new, per se, but it just confirmed. We’ve looked at this as an opportunity for the community to work with the school to make this happen, because it takes a village,” Malone said.
Data was collected from a variety of public sources, including 2020 Census data, report card records, open records requests, and Kentucky Department of Education surveys.
“It’s a matter of quality and we want our kids coming out of school as the best versions of themselves, having experience with asserting their cognitive skills, their social skills, and all of these other things,” said task force member Steve McCafferty, a former longtime employee of NISD.
The report identified these primary issues NISD is currently facing:
- NISD ranks among the lowest-performing districts in Kentucky
- Employee working conditions in Newport schools are lower than average
- NISD central office salaries rank ahead of other local districts, while teacher salaries lag behind other districts.
“The data suggests that we hold all employees accountable, especially leadership with precise measures of academic achievement,” McCafferty said. “Of course, we’re not suggesting this is an easy thing to do, but it’s a thing that needs to be done.”
Malone told LINK nky that the school board is supportive of the collaborative efforts between the task force, city, NISD and ReNewport.
“We are very appreciative of the Education Task Force’s efforts, and their commitment to this part of the ReNewport mission,” Malone said.
The Task Force recommended these actions in the report’s executive summary to increase student achievement:
- Increase support for teachers
- Recruit, hire and develop school leaders and teachers
- Provide robust academic options for students
- Reduce central office staff and salaries
- Invest savings into salaries, support and resources for teachers
- Increase expectations for leadership and educator performance
- Set higher expectations and accountability for student performance
- Engage the Newport community in more key decisions
- Hire a third-party culture expert to identify and address problems within the culture of the district.
The report states that, “incremental or ‘continuous’ improvements cannot produce the sweeping change needed to raise the culture and performance of the Newport schools. NISD must make substantial, statistically significant changes to begin to meet the needs of the citizens and families of Newport.”
Newport’s overall population contracted by 7.4 percent since 2010, according to the report. Newport’s population now sits at 14,150 as of April 2022, down from 15,273 in April 2010.
In relation to overall population contraction, the total number of students in the school district has also decreased over the same period of time. Total enrollment across all NISD schools is 1,322, down from 1,728 in April 2010.
Compared to other Northern Kentucky school districts, Newport ranks below the state average in all ACT testing areas and in state benchmark testing. Newport’s average ACT composite score ranks above only Covington and Ludlow out of Northern Kentucky school districts for the 2020-2021 school year.
Despite ranking low in reading and mathematical proficiency, Newport had a 94.9 percent graduation rate for the 2020-2021 school year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. 
For school working conditions, Newport ranked below the state average in eight out of nine categories, which range from school climate, managing student behavior, and effectiveness of school leadership.
While posting low scores on measures of academic achievement and working conditions, NISD has been a well-funded school district for many years. Out of the nine categories, NISD only ranked positively in the adequacy of resources category.
The report’s finance section reveals that while the district is well funded, NISD spends almost $2,000 more per student on administrative and business support compared to the state average and other school districts, large and small.
Teacher salaries in NISD fall below the state average, and below other districts in Northern Kentucky. While NISD teacher salaries are above Ludlow, Covington, and Erlanger, the district’s salary increases percentage per year with an average growth of .06 percent. In contrast, Fort Thomas has the highest teacher salaries in Northern Kentucky. NISD has improved over the past two years, but remains low compared to other districts.
“The recommendations that we define from the data are to reduce central office staff and salaries, reflecting the size of the school district,” McCafferty said. “We think the data suggests we take those savings and invest that in teacher salaries, training and support at the highest level.”
McCafferty said falling behind in increasing teacher salaries can hurt NISD in keeping top teaching talent within the district, something the district needs to uphold academic performance.
The Task Force emphasized the importance of parent involvement within NISD, with McCafferty vocally encouraging parents to run for the school board.
“Maybe you run for school board. You know, that’s what we need. We need people that are going to make some noise,” McCafferty said. “We need people that are going to say ‘I’m not putting up with this anymore. I’m going to make some changes, and I’m going to be the person who does that.’ It’s not easy.”
Newport Mayor Thomas Guidugli Jr. said the community and school district will continue to focus on implementing change, so they can build the best possible educational environment for Newport students.
“Unless we have a good school system, we don’t have a good city,” Commissioner Ken Rechtin said.
